Malcolm Turnbull denials keep on growing

THE dispute between Malcolm Turnbull and former Howard minister Fran Bailey over whether he offered her Peter Dutton's shadow health portfolio as an inducement not to retire from her marginal seat of McEwen remains unresolved.

This is not gossip without broader implications. If Turnbull did make the offer, it shows poor judgment and disloyalty to Dutton at a time when he needed his leader's full support.

In denying he made the offer, while Bailey confirmed it was made, Turnbull would like to ignore the consequences of his denial - he is in effect calling a respected veteran MP a liar.

This is not the first time Turnbull has found himself at odds with others when it comes to the recollection of events. Earlier this year, just before the OzCar saga blew up in Turnbull's face, he was in dispute with Kevin Rudd's senior economics adviser, Andrew Charlton, over a conversation they had about the issue.

Next was the list of Labor luminaries who confirmed Turnbull approached them about wanting to embark on a career as a Labor MP shortly after the republic referendum was defeated in 1999. Turnbull denies ever doing so.

In his memoirs, Peter Costello implies the Howard cabinet started leaking shortly after Turnbull was promoted. Turnbull denies he was the source.

Now we have yet another denial - this time at the expense of Bailey's integrity.

It is possible Turnbull has, on each of the above occasions, been unfairly implicated. The problem for his credibility, however, is that the list is growing.

When Turnbull responded to The Australian's inquiries about the alleged offer to Bailey, he did so before contacting her to find out what he was up against.

Whether Turnbull made the mistake, or his office did not pass on to him the full details of the media inquiry, such as Bailey having confirmed the offer, we may never know.

Politics can be a difficult business. It may be as simple as this: Turnbull isn't suited to it.