Liberal Ian Macdonald delivers damning assessment of Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership

Veteran Queensland Lib Ian Macdonald delivers a damning and frank assessment of Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership | WATCH

Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald.

Veteran Queensland Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald has vented his disappointment with Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, arguing the 2015 switch from Tony Abbott was the beginning of a political “disaster.”

Senator Macdonald used an interview on Sky News this morning to warn that Mr Turnbull was losing the support of the Liberal Party’s base vote to other Right wing parties.

He said while voters knew exactly what Tony Abbott and John Howard stood for, the electorate doesn’t know what Mr Turnbull stands for. “Malcolm is a very intelligent bloke, I think he is very committed, I think he has great vision, but it doesn’t come across. People can’t quite work (it) out,’’ he said.

Senator Macdonald said there was a “lot of work to be done” to convince voters Mr Turnbull understands regional Australia.

“There’s no doubt about it — Malcolm is not seen as representing people in northern and regional Queensland,” Senator Macdonald said. “They see him as a city person with city values. I know that is not right but there is quite frankly a lot of work to be done.”

Senator Macdonald, who voted for Tony Abbott in the party room ballot which elected Mr Turnbull in September 2015, said the prime minister was trying to woo over those who were “never going to vote for us” and argued it was increasingly unclear what Mr Turnbull stood for.

“That’s one of the difficulties,” he said. “It doesn’t come across. It seems to a lot of people, a lot of people where I come from, Malcolm tries to pick the issues that everybody likes.

“But he doesn’t seem to understand that 60 per cent of those or a lot of those people who he’s appealing to are people who are never going to vote for us, never in a month of Sundays will they vote for us.

Ian Macdonald: The problem with @TurnbullMalcolm is that people don’t know what he stands for. MORE: https://t.co/55HhmVElqT pic.twitter.com/cUzz1Tu3ll

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) November 27, 2017

“Even if we give them everything they ask for, they will never vote for us. Whereas often the people on the other side of the argument are our traditional supporters and we are losing them to people like Hanson and Katter “

While Senator Macdonald said changing leaders again was not a solution to the government’s current woes, he conceded the LNP was experiencing difficulties connecting with conservatives in Queensland following its poor performance at the weekend’s state election.

“I just hope that lessons are learned by those at the top of the Liberal National party Coalition in Canberra,” he told Sky News. “I voted for Abbott ... but the idea of changing leaders, in particular someone who had just been elected prime minister was just crazy.

“I told my colleagues when they approached me to support a change back in those days, it was just a disaster commencing. It was the start of a disaster. I regret to say that has been the difficulty.”