Turnbull stalls parliament and threatens Coalition

For all the tumult and disappointment in national politics during the past decade, we seem to be forever in search of a new nadir. Voters must hope we reach it one day and start to see an improvement, but after a chaotic and vengeful week we were entitled to expect some dignity and humility from Malcolm Turnbull when he addressed the media — and, through it, the nation and his colleagues — in Canberra yesterday. The Prime Minister chose instead to sink to a new low, blaming others for his quandary, stalling, changing the rules, making demands of colleagues, threatening his own government and casting doubt over the eligibility of one of his leadership rivals, Peter Dutton. All this came after Mr Turnbull took the deplorable decision to dissolve parliament, suspending sittings until next month. A government running from parliament is shying away from its fundamental responsibilities.

Mr Turnbull demanded to see a letter signed by 43 Liberal MPs before granting another meeting tomorrow. This breaks the convention that says just two people can call such a meeting. Apart from being a delaying tactic, this repudiated senator Mathias Cormann, who has been one of Mr Turnbull’s most loyal and effective supporters until he informed his Prime Minister yesterday that party support was lost. Rather than resign or call the meeting, Mr Turnbull has demanded a petition and dragged the crisis into another day. This allows the Solicitor-General to assess eligibility concerns about Mr Dutton, putting enormous pressure on the nation’s second law officer. The issue is being elevated deliberately by Mr Turnbull to impede his rival. “You can imagine the consequences of having a prime minister whose actions and decisions are questionable because of the issue of eligibility,” he posed.

If there are any doubts and Mr Dutton is forced to withdraw, the Prime Minister might hope to survive — or perhaps Scott Morrison or deputy leader Julie Bishop would proceed with a challenge, or someone else up to and including former prime minister Tony Abbott might ensure the leadership is contested. The delay has increased the chance of uncertainty, deepening the damage to the party and helping to ensure recovery from this conflagration will be even more difficult.

Mr Turnbull also said if he lost the leadership he would leave parliament and this means he could take with him the government’s majority. This was an implied threat to the existence of the government and he dismissed it by saying voters would want an election anyway, doing all he could to condemn his successor to a panicked rush to the polls. None of these tactics helped the government, none helped the party and none will make life easier for whoever succeeds him. Faced with likely defeat, Mr Turnbull acted to ensure that any humiliation was spread widely. In the antithesis of a dignified exit, he has demanded that he be blasted from office with maximum casualties. This might be more understandable if he were not a leader who had won the job himself through undermining and destabilisation that culminated in a coup against a first-term prime minister.

Mr Turnbull and his supporters have complained that a media conspiracy has brought him undone. “The reality is that a minority in the partyroom supported by others outside the parliament have sought to bully, intimidate others into making this change of leadership that they’re seeking,” he said. “It’s been described by many people, including those who feel they cannot resist it, as a form of madness.”

The Prime Minister has had harsh and persistent critics in the media but they have been far fewer than those who lined up against Mr Abbott or even John Howard before him. They also have been frank about their loyalties and objectives. Mr Turnbull received enormous support and encouragement from the public and the media even after he stalked and knifed Mr Abbott. Right to this day most of the Canberra press gallery along with the public broadcasters, Fairfax Media and a raft of online publications have barracked openly for his success. Perhaps this has been a large part of his problem, allowing him to ignore or deny looming threats, especially over climate and energy policy.

True to our mission of backing national and economic development, The Australian has argued strongly in this editorial column for the Turnbull government to succeed in its task of fiscal repair and reform. We have been constructively critical, urging the Coalition on its low-tax agenda aimed at delivering growth. We warned repeatedly about dangers, particularly regarding energy policy; but, in the end, it was a slavish commitment to Paris obligations over economic priorities that saw the partyroom lose its nerve. “What we have witnessed at the moment,” Mr Turnbull said yesterday, “is a very deliberate effort to pull the Liberal Party further to the Right.” It is an attempt to change direction but it is more about calling time on a drift to the Left. There is no denying the Liberal Party has been losing votes to One Nation and other third parties rather than to Labor. Whether it is under Mr Dutton, Mr Morrison, Ms Bishop, Mr Abbott or even Mr Turnbull on reprieve, the challenge is to fight for Coalition mainstream ground rather than to haggle over Labor priorities.