Malcolm Turnbull's leadership spill: 'It was a terrorist’s bargain'

Malcolm Turnbull was a marked man the moment he took down Tony Abbott as prime minister, yet, this year’s shock coup that ended his reign was considered so foolhardy no one saw it coming.

It was the morning of August 21 this year when Mr Turnbull used a regular Tuesday party-room meeting of the Liberal Party to call a snap contest against then Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

Just days earlier, the former member for Wentworth had dodged political minefields over his ability to lead after dumping the emissions reduction target of his National Energy Guarantee.

The decision to bow to a spill would cut deep within Mr Turnbull’s own party, causing just enough blood to spill to attract conservative sharks and spark a feeding frenzy.

“It was the most extraordinary one,” Nine political editor Chris Uhlmann told nine.com.au of the leadership spill against Mr Turnbull.

Uhlmann, who has been reporting on domestic and international politics for more than a decade, recalls the shock of Mr Dutton’s initial strike which continued a second time despite its first failing.

“They never really had the numbers to get the prime ministership,” Uhlmann said.

“It was ludicrous. Turnbull called it a moment of madness, but it was a terrorist’s bargain - we will keep coming after you until we kill you.”

Less than 24 hours after the first spill against Mr Turnbull, Uhlmann shared insider insights with Today show viewers of how a thick fog of confusion had blanketed Parliament House. As he put it, Dutton supporters were “trying to stampede people into their ranks”.

Despite emerging victorious over Dutton, 48 votes to 35, Mr Turnbull’s political well had been poisoned. Not even his public assurance on 21 August could save him.

“Today the Liberal Party room has confirmed my leadership and Julie’s Deputy Leadership. This unity undermines the ability of any government to get its job done and unity is absolutely critical,” Mr Turnbull said.

“We cannot allow… internal issues to undermine our work, to create a risk, a real risk that Bill Shorten will be the Prime Minister.”

Just two days after Mr Turnbull spoke these words, he stepped aside as Australia’s 29th Prime Minister, making way for Scott Morrison to take the mantle. He had faced a second leadership challenge that proved professionally fatal.

“He was a man of enormous talents who his major failing was that he never got the hang of politics,” Uhlmann said of Mr Turnbull.

“He had the capacity to be a good communicator and also had the capacity to be a bad communicator… he was always constrained by the nature of the party he was in.”

The way Uhlmann saw it, Mr Turnbull was running a party that not only had a very conservative chunk in it but a party that also saw the former investment bank as “not one of us”.

Compounding this, Mr Turnbull faced an uphill battle by taking the leadership rather than earning it.

“When you take the Prime Ministership, which is what he did, you’ve drawn blood,” Uhlmann said.

“People do not forgive and forget. What we saw is a retribution to what he (Turnbull) did to Tony Abbott.”

In September 2015, Mr Turnbull resigned from the cabinet to challenge Mr Abbott for the leadership. His own strike for the leadership came after an Abbott government trailed Labor in 30 consecutive Newspolls.

Mr Turnbull would defeat Mr Abbott for the top job by a spill vote of 54 to 44.

In April this year, Mr Turnbull would open himself up to the same criticism he heaped on Mr Abbott when his government suffered its 30th straight Newspoll loss.

On 13 August, this year, Mr Abbott denied being “a sniper or a wrecker” trying to undermine the Turnbull government since he was forced to the backbench following the 2015 leadership spill.

Yet, just over a week later on 22 August, Mr Abbott publicly accused Mr Turnbull of failing to defend Mr Dutton’s place in parliament over conflict of interest allegations involving his business interests in childcare centres.

Mr Abbott backed Mr Dutton in his failed bid for the Liberal leadership.

During his emotional final media conference as prime minister, Mr Turnbull lashed out at “the wrecker” – singling out Mr Abbott and Mr Dutton.

“The people who chose – Peter Dutton and Tony Abbott and others – who chose to deliberately attack the government from within, they did so because they wanted to bring the government down,” Mr Turnbull said.

In the past 10 years, Australia has experienced a revolving door of six leaders.

“There’s something wrong with the way Australia do politics,” Uhlmann said, adding the nation’s two decades of continued economic growth should be the measure for leaders not news polls.

He said Australia has the economy of a first world and the politics of a third world.

He said as a result of another spill the upcoming Federal Election will be a “turning point in the tide of history” where we will be left by the tide and left screaming at the water for it to come back.

“It’s a sickness at the heart of our politics that we are hopefully claw our way out of,” he said.