Paul Keating savages Malcolm Turnbull over Rudd, Abbott comments

Paul Keating has savaged Malcolm Turnbull over the republic and his remarks on Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott.

Former PMs Paul keating, left, and Malcolm Turnbull.

Former PM Paul Keating has savaged Malcolm Turnbull over remarks he made about Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott, saying the comments “make you choke on your Weeties”.

Leaked audio of Mr Turnbull calling Mr Abbott and Mr Rudd “miserable ghosts” at a young leaders forum in New York emerged on Saturday.

“There is no way I’d be hanging around like embittered Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott. Seriously, these people are like, sort of miserable, miserable ghosts,” Mr Turnbull said.

In an interview with Fairfax Media, Mr Keating, who lost the prime ministership in an election, said Mr Turnbull’s failure to campaign for the republic while he was PM revealed a fundamental lack of conviction.

“Malcolm Turnbull had just on three years as prime minister, yet he failed to show a skerrick of leadership on Australia moving to a republic,” he said.

Mr Turnbull led a failed republican campaign during the 1999 referendum.

Mr Keating went on to say you would “need a microscope” to find Mr Turnbull’s beliefs.

“He attacks Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott as ghosts, yet if you needed to know what Malcolm Turnbull truly believes in, what he would die in a ditch over, you would need a microscope to help you find it.”

Mr Turnbull lost the prime ministership in a leadership coup in August. Mr Abbott was rolled by Mr Turnbull in September 2015. Kevin Rudd lost the leadership to Julia Gillard in 2010 but retook it in 2012.

Both Mr Abbott and Mr Rudd lingered in public life and were vocal critics of the governments they had lost.

Mr Turnbull flew to New York shortly after he lost the leadership, but a series of leaks including his plans for the next election have emerged in the media.

In the leaked audio recording, he indicated he believed a second referendum after the death of the Queen was the best option. “I think the next time for a referendum, if you want it to succeed, is after the Queen’s reign ends, and she way well outlive most of us,” Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Keating said his remarks revealed a fundamental lack of conviction and a disinterest in leading Australia towards a republic.

“Worse than that, he had said the republic could only happen after a rise in public sentiment promoted by Australians by ‘door to door’ advocacy and only following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. That is, a republic but not out of any leadership by him,” Mr Keating said.

Mr Keating said while he did not believe Mr Turnbull deserved to be rolled from the top job, the role of prime minister required conviction and leadership.

“That said, when Malcolm Turnbull lost the prime ministership, I did feel the Liberal Party had treated him very shabbily and that he had not deserved such contempt from his peers,” he said.

“But absence of belief and vacillation in the big job carries risk and with it, attendant danger, leaving the field open to subterranean malcontents and their sympathisers.”