Peta Credlin hits back at Malcolm Turnbull for ‘absolutely lacking in character’

Peta Credlin fires back at Malcolm Turnbull after he alleged she was ‘running the country’.

Peta Credlin says she considers Malcolm Turnbull’s ‘highly personal attacks to be unedifying’. Picture: Jane Dempster

Peta Credlin has fired back at Malcolm Turnbull for “absolutely lacking in character”, after he alleged she was “running the country” when she served as chief-of-staff to former prime minister Tony Abbott.

Credlin’s response to the depiction comes after Mr Abbott scolded the “pretty odious comments” Mr Turnbull made about her during an interview about his new memoir, A Bigger Picture, on ABC’s 7:30 on Monday.

“Peta was running the country and that was obvious, and dominating Abbott,” Mr Turnbull said about the top aide to his predecessor as prime minister.

“She felt she owned him. It was a bizarre, a truly bizarre relationship.”

Responding on Tuesday, Credlin told The Australian she found Mr Turnbull’s “highly personal attacks to be unedifying”.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, left, says his predecessor Tony Abbott allowed chief-of-staff Peta Credlin to run Australia.

“There is a lot I could say in relation to Mr Turnbull’s conduct in politics. However, while I find the man absolutely lacking in character and his highly personal attacks to be unedifying, I respect the office he once held, and the great party he once led, to add further to his commentary,” said Credlin, who is now a host at Sky News — part of News Corp, owner of The Australian.

“In the end, the electoral test speaks volumes. I was part of a team that won 25 seats off Labor, and he led the team that handed them 14 seats on plate — so you be the judge.”

Asked about Mr Turnbull’s comments earlier on Tuesday, Mr Abbott defended Credlin as “an important part of the Abbott government”.

“I am aware of some pretty odious comments that one of my successors made,” he said in Sydney.

“I think she was comparable in my government to the role of someone like Arthur Sinodinos in the Howard government.

“She was a fine thinker, a great organiser, and she was a trusted colleague and I think that she deserves a great deal of credit for what she did.”

Mr Turnbull also accused his predecessor of trying to inflame public animosity towards Muslims.

The former prime minister yet again took aim at his former colleagues in the 7.30 interview, calling Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton “deluded”, declaring Prime Minister Scott Morrison had “limitations” and claiming the move against his leadership would have failed if Finance Minister Mathias Cormann remained loyal to him.

Mr Turnbull said there was no comparison to his downfall and his own role in successfully challenging a sitting prime minister in Mr Abbott.

“The Abbott government was brought down by the Abbott government,” Mr Turnbull said.

“Credlin and Abbott destroyed their own government due to their own follies and then set out to destroy mine.

“When Dutton and the right-wing group that supported him, Abbott and others and their friends in the Murdoch media and the right-wing media generally, they overthrew my government and overthrew my prime ministership not because they thought I’d lose an election but because they thought I would win it.”

He accused Mr Abbott of being a dangerous prime minister because he abandoned cabinet government and used inflammatory language towards Muslims.

Peta Credlin, Tony Abbott's chief-of-staff, in Question Time in the House of Representatives Chamber, Parliament House. Picture: Kym Smith

“At a time when terrorism was our biggest, you know, domestic security issue, Abbott was determined to ramp up the rhetoric in a way that was calculated to inflame animosity against Muslims,” Mr Turnbull said.

He also declared a same-sex marriage plebiscite would have failed if Mr Abbott had been prime minister.

“Let’s get real. The fact is I legalised it,” Mr Turnbull said.

“So I delivered on my commitment to enable people, regardless of their sexual orientation, to be married.”

On the move against his leadership by Mr Dutton in August 2018, Mr Turnbull admitted he only realised there was a threat to his position “very late”.

“I didn’t imagine that he was so deluded as to imagine that our political prospects would be advanced by a change of leadership, and especially to him. And it never occurred to me, frankly, that so many people would support him,” Mr Turnbull said.

“If Dutton had become leader, not even Bill Shorten could have lost the election.

“Frankly, if Cormann had not betrayed me in the shocking way he did, the Dutton coup would have been over by Tuesday.”

The former Wentworth MP also reiterated his belief that Mr Morrison’s allies supported Mr Dutton in the first August 2018 leadership spill to create instability.

“There was a group of them that voted for Dutton in the ballot on Tuesday, obviously hoping that they didn’t put him over the line, but they wanted to give him a big enough vote to destabilise my leadership,” Mr Turnbull said.

“When Abbott was defeated, Scott was saying publicly he was supporting Abbott. But he was working to get the numbers to vote for me. So, you know, that’s his (modus operandi).”

Earlier on Monday evening, Liberal National senator James McGrath revealed he regretted using his influence in the party to help topple Tony Abbott in 2015.

“Yeah, I regret. The promise that was Malcolm ended up being a nightmare for the Liberal Party and the Liberal National Party,” Senator McGrath told Sky News.

Senator McGrath, who turned on the former prime minister in favour of Mr Dutton in August 2018, painted Mr Turnbull as a leader who treated his staff and colleagues poorly.

“I found Malcolm at times to be very difficult. I found how he spoke to people, how he treated people, was not the public image,” he said.

“I know he spoke to staff like that. And I know a very good friend of mine, how he treated her, in terms of when she was staff member in the government. I think she is still recovering from it.

“Malcolm’s relationship with the party here in Queensland is so bad. I cannot think of any branch or party unit who would want him to come along to a meeting. And that is very sad for him.”