How Turnbull dealt with that Cayman money

Speak slowly, use simple words, and maybe those Labor dills will finally understand.

That was Malcolm Turnbull's mode of counter-attack when Labor used the second half of Wednesday's question time to probe the wealthy PM's managed funds in the Cayman Islands.

Turnbull knew it was coming. Sam Dastyari had raised the matter in the Senate and the PM had already put out a statement explaining his innocence.

But the Caymans have a guilty ring. Say Caymans and you think tax dodgers and money launderers. Like "Liberian-registered vessel" means dodgy rust-bucket.

So Mark Dreyfus, Chris Bowen and Tony Burke took turns in trying to exploit the image.

Turnbull, in reply, was all patience and sweet reason with a backward child.

All his and his wife Lucy's affairs were properly recorded in the register of members' interests. If there was a mistake, please tell him and he'd fix it.

His affairs were all managed and outside his control.

Moreover, everyone apart from Americans with investments in the Caymans paid tax in their home country, which meant he was fully taxed in Australia.

The longer the exchanges went, the more slowly and simply Turnbull spoke. He found Labor's failure to understand his position remarkable.

No. Australian. Tax. Is. Avoided, he said.

It couldn't be more straightforward, or more innocent.

Though it makes you wonder why all these thousands of managed funds bother going to the Caymans in the first place.

Maybe that was what Tony Abbott was wondering. Certainly the deposed PM showed more interest in the Turnbull family affairs than anything else that was raised.