Scott Morrison explains why Liberal Party colleagues axed Malcolm Turnbull as leader

Prime Minister Scott Morrison answers his predecessor’s claims on Q&A last night that his downfall could be put down to “madness’’.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has attempted to explain the motivations of his Liberal Party colleagues for the axing of Malcolm Turnbull as leader. Picture: AAP

The Liberal Party removed Malcolm Turnbull as Prime Minister because some MPs believed the party was not connecting with grassroots members, Scott Morrison says.

The former prime minister told the ABC’s Q&A program last night that he did not know why he was forced out of office by conservative MPs and that his downfall was “madness.”

The Prime Minister told a Lifeline charity lunch in Sydney today that he never advocated for a change in prime minister but his colleagues felt Mr Turnbull was out of touch with core Coalition supporters.

“Those who had advocated that (change in leadership) made points about the need to better connect with the values and beliefs of Liberal, National and LNP members across the country,” he told journalist and MC Mike Munro.

Mr Morrison also defended the right of the Parliamentary Liberal Party to decide its own leader at any given time.

“We live in a parliamentary democracy, we don’t live in a presidential system,” he told journalist Mike Munro at a Lifeline charity lunch in Sydney.

“The Parliamentary Liberal Party decides who their leader is and the Parliamentary Liberal Party formed a decision that we wanted to make a change,”

Mr Turnbull told the Q&A audience last night that he took Mr Morrison “at his word” that his then-treasurer had supported him throughout the leadership spill saga in August.

But tensions have arisen between the two in recent months. Mr Turnbull publicly criticised the possible move of Australia’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem at a Bali oceans conference while representing Mr Morrison.

The former prime minister also told Q&A that the Liberal Party lost last month’s Wentworth by-election in the last week of the campaign because of poor government decisions including supporting an “It’s OK to Be White” motion in the Senate and the Israeli embassy controversy.

I didn’t engineer coup: Cormann

Mathias Cormann has denied being involved in the coup against Malcolm Turnbull. Picture Kym Smith

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says he “did not engineer any coup” against Malcolm Turnbull and did not see internal polling showing the former prime minister ahead in marginal seats.

The finance minister was named by Mr Turnbull, alongside Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Health Minister Greg Hunt, as leading figures in his downfall as Prime Minister during an appearance on the ABC’s Q&A program last night.

Mr Turnbull told the Q&A audience that Senator Cormann and others would have to say why they removed him as prime minister.

Senator Cormann said this morning he did not lead any coup and only switched allegiances after Mr Turnbull called a leadership spill on August 21, in which he narrowly defeated Mr Dutton.

“That was a difficult week. I certainly did not engineer any coup,” he told Sky News.

“I voted for Malcolm on that Tuesday … but it was clear given the result that day that his position had become irretrievable and that it was in the interests of the country, the government, and the Liberal Party for the issue of the leadership of the Liberal Party to be resolved with more certainty before we left that week.

“Going into the break without the issue resolved would have created unbelievable instability and chaos and dysfunction … I wish what had happened on the Tuesday didn’t happen.”

Mr Turnbull also said last night that the government was leading Labor in marginal seats according to internal party polling before the spill.

Senator Cormann said he has not seen that polling before or after Mr Turnbull’s downfall, despite being the government’s leader in the Senate.

“I haven’t seen any such polling,” he said, “There’s no question in my mind the government had worked very well as a team and we were getting into a more competitive position than we had been. But that was before the ten days of that (leadership spill) period.”

“I have not seen that polling … before or after.”

Senator Cormann also said he has not spoken to Mr Turnbull since August apart from some exchanges on the messaging app WhatsApp.

Plotters ‘have to be responsible’

Defence Minister Christopher Pyne says his cabinet colleagues “have to be responsible” for the removal of Malcolm Turnbull, after the former prime minister’s explosive appearance on the ABC last night.

Mr Turnbull called on Home Affairs Peter Dutton, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, Health Minister Greg Hunt and former prime minister Tony Abbott to explain why they challenged his leadership during the one-hour Q&A special.

The Defence Minister said this morning that he talked to Mr Turnbull after his appearance on Q&A last night and that only his cabinet colleagues had the answers to why they acted against a sitting prime minister.

“They have to be responsible for their actions. They made a decision about not supporting Malcolm and they have to be responsible for that,” Mr Pyne told the Nine Network.

“That is a matter for them … I supported Malcolm.

“I did speak to Malcolm afterwards and I think he did a great job … he’s a friend of mine. I asked him how it went. We texted each other and he’s entitled to have his views about things.”

Mr Pyne said the leadership saga was now “all over” and that the government had “moved on”.

Mr Turnbull told the Q&A audience last night that the campaign against him was “madness” and that he did not understand why he had been removed.

“They are people like Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott and Greg Hunt and Mathias Cormann — the people who voted for the spill,” Mr Turnbull said.

“I did not anticipate that people would act, particularly cabinet ministers, would act so self-­destructively. It never occurr­ed to me that those people would act in a way that was going to be so ­damaging both to the government, to the party and, frankly, to the nation.”

International Development Minister Anne Rushton also said today it was up to ministers who moved against Mr Turnbull to answer for the consequences of the spill.

“I think I could probably make the same answer as the (former) prime minister. It’s a matter for those who chose to take the action they did at the time,” she said.

“I don’t have an answer … I think it’s for those who made for the decision to destabilise.”