Malcolm Turnbull refuses to rule out voting or campaigning against Liberals

Former PM reserves his right to campaign against the Coalition at the election, calling Morrison’s AUKUS deal ‘blundering and deceitful’.

Malcolm Turnbull appearsat the National Press Club on Wednesday.

Malcolm Turnbull is facing new claims of treachery against the Liberals after reserving his right to campaign for independents at the next federal election and refusing to say whether he will vote for the party he once led.

If the former prime minister were to campaign against any Liberal at the election, the NSW Liberal Party state executive would have the right to expel him without the right of appeal.

In an address to the National Press Club, Mr Turnbull said Scott Morrison’s decision to cancel a $90bn submarine deal with France was “blundering and deceitful”, accusing the Prime Minister of hurting the nation’s relations with Europe.

Mr Turnbull also revealed he had spoken to French President Emmanuel Macron about the submarine controversy since the AUKUS deal was announced, despite Mr Morrison not yet having done so.

The skewering speech came after months of other criticisms about Mr Morrison’s handling of climate change, the Covid-19 vaccine rollout and the controversies around former attorney-general Christian Porter.

Mr Turnbull refused to say on Wednesday that he would back the Liberal Party at the next election, despite remaining a member of the party. “It has been a long habit but it is also a secret ballot. That will be a matter between me and the ballot box,” he told the NPC on Wednesday.

“I haven’t made a decision about (campaigning for independents). I remain a member of the Liberal Party. I will wait and see.

“I reserve my rights, as they would say.”

Mr Turnbull with French President Emmanuel Macron in Sydney in 2018.

Mr Turnbull made headlines back in May when he backed independent candidate Kirsty O’Connell in the Upper Hunter state parliament by-election over ultimately successful Nationals candidate Dave Layzell.

Party rules allow campaigning against Nationals.

On Wednesday, Mr Turnbull also refused to endorse Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party.

His comments exasperated Liberal MPs and party grandees.

Former Liberal Party federal president Richard Alston – a Howard government cabinet minister – said Mr Turnbull was now a “Liberal in name only”.

“His treachery knows no bounds … there’s not much point trying to eject him from the Liberal Party. He wouldn’t be welcome in any Liberal forum,” Mr Alston said. “He’s rightly an outcast in the Liberal Party.”

Several Liberal MPs on Wednesday told The Australian that while they were not surprised by his comments and expected he would continue to attack Mr Morrison, they expected he would not openly campaign against the party in case his preferred independent candidates lost.

Former Liberal Senate leader Eric Abetz said MPs hoped to hear less from Mr Turnbull. “I hope Malcolm Turnbull makes zero emissions about the Liberal Party before 2050,” he said.

Mr Morrison has not talked to Mr Macron since cancelling the $90bn submarine deal, and both he and government ministers have been unable to make contact with their French counterparts.

“Scott Morrison deliberately and elaborately set out to persuade the French that their deal was on foot and proceeding until he knew he had an alternative deal, whereupon he dumped the French and his deceitful conduct was exposed,” Mr Turnbull told the NPC.

“I have spoken to Emmanuel Macron. He is a friend and I have stayed in touch with him since I left office. What Morrison has done … was a big double-cross, deceitful conduct on any view, acting in bad faith.”