by David Crowe
No rule can stop a subterranean conflict. Turnbull was vulnerable before he called a ballot and even more so after he won by 48 to 35 votes. His enemies did not need 66 per cent to unleash chaos; 42 per cent was enough. Given a higher threshold, those intent on their own advancement might resort to more vicious tactics, more public disloyalty, more briefing to the media, more aggression to achieve their ends. The rules adjust the price of power, not the hunger for it.
One lesson from this account is that a leader alone cannot contain a wayward party room. The modern media creates endless opportunity for distraction and division, whether it is through a tweet, a Facebook post, a radio interview, a newspaper story or a television appearance. Too many of the Liberals and Nationals of the 45th Parliament turned themselves into exhibits for Vera Brittain’s theory that politics is the ‘executive expression of human immaturity’ — an assessment to be tested by the 46th Parliament.
All the camouflage of the previous years, the attempts to dress up the infighting as a contest of great political philosophy, fell away once Turnbull was gone and Morrison assumed control. ‘In my judgement, it’s much less a philosophical divide that’s hurt the party over the past five years than a clash of personalities,’ Abbott wrote at the end of October. It was a fascinating statement. Any reasonable observer would have known all along that the policy disputes were only a means to an end in a revenge cycle.
There will be no excuses if the government is unable to break the cycle, because Morrison presides over a party room where so few of the old protagonists remain. Abbott, Bishop and Turnbull are gone.
Morrison led his fortunate government out of the wreckage with his back to the past. He wanted his colleagues to resist every urge to glance behind at what they had done. Let’s leave it back there. Yet the Morrison government was born out of this history. The story of the Liberals and Nationals in these years is a history the two parties can never disown and a cautionary tale for any other government in the years ahead. What you don’t remember you repeat.
PHOTO SECTION
Malcolm Turnbull leaves Question Time with Tony Abbott on Monday, 14 September 2015. Minutes after this he told Abbott he would challenge for the leadership.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Tony Abbott consults Peta Credlin, his chief of staff, in February 2012. Credlin was crucial to Abbott’s election victory in 2013 but divisive with ministers and MPs.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Malcolm Turnbull walks to the leadership ballot on 14 September 2015 flanked by (L to R) Peter Hendy, Wyatt Roy, Arthur Sinodinos, Scott Ryan (obscured), Mal Brough and Mitch Fifield.
PHOTO: ANDREW MEARES.
Bill Shorten launched a powerful attack on Malcolm Turnbull and his government in the final fortnight of the 2016 election campaign, with a ‘save Medicare’ rallying cry. He is pictured at the campaign launch in Penrith, NSW, with former Labor prime ministers Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Julia Gillard.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Tony Abbott, sitting with Peter Dutton in their usual seats in the Coalition party room, watches Malcolm Turnbull address the Liberals and Nationals on 29 August 2016. Also shown are Mitch Fifield, Christian Porter and Linda Reynolds.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Malcolm Turnbull poses with the women in his ministry in December 2017. L to R: Kelly O’Dwyer, Melissa Price, Bridget McKenzie, Anne Ruston, Julie Bishop, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and Michaelia Cash.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Bill Shorten and Tanya Plibersek kept Labor ahead in the polls throughout 2017 and 2018. They are pictured here after Shorten’s budget reply speech on 11 May 2017.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Turnbull retreated on a Clean Energy Target in 2017 in the face of objections from Abbott and others, in a precursor to the struggle over the National Energy Guarantee the following year.
JON KUDELKA, THE AUSTRALIAN, 16 OCTOBER 2017.
Advocates for same sex marriage mark the passage of the law on 7 December 2017. L to R: Trevor Evans (Liberal), Tim Wilson (Liberal), Janet Rice (Greens), Dean Smith (Liberal), Louise Pratt (Labor), Penny Wong (Labor) and Trent Zimmerman (Liberal).
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Liberal MP Warren Entsch lifts Labor MP Linda Burney to celebrate the passage of same sex marriage, as Liberals Trent Zimmerman and Jason Falinski look on, while Labor’s Chris Bowen stands behind.
PHOTO: LUKAS COCH, AAP.
Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull meet United States President Donald Trump and his wife Melania in the Oval Office of the White House on 23 February 2018, as the Nationals leadership crisis takes place at home.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Cast out of power after his affair with Vikki Campion, former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce watches Question Time from the backbench in May 2018.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Malcolm Turnbull speaks during Question Time on Monday, 20 August 2018, as Julie Bishop, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton sit behind him. Turnbull called a ballot on his leadership the next morning.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Peter Dutton arrives at Parliament House early on Tuesday, 21 August 2018, amid speculation he would challenge. Malcolm Turnbull called a leadership ballot 90 minutes later.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Tony Abbott and Peter Dutton cross paths in Parliament on Tuesday, 21 August 2018, after Dutton had launched his leadership bid and moved to the backbench.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Scott Morrison declares his loyalty to Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday, 22 August 2018, in a statement that would haunt the power struggle. Asked to rule out any leadership ambitions, Morrison replies: ‘This is my leader and I’m ambitious for him.’
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Frustrated at Malcolm Turnbull’s refusal to call a second meeting, Peter Dutton speaks to the media shortly after 8 a.m. on Thursday, 23 August 2018, to demand another ballot. Turnbull pushed back, in a delay that helped Scott Morrison.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
‘This is terrorism.’ With these words Malcolm Turnbull urged Mitch Fifield, Mathias Cormann and Michaelia Cash to resist the pressure for a leadership spill, but they went public with their call for a ballot. They are pictured here leaving their press conference on Thursday, 23 August 2018.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Unaware of all the tactics being used against her, Julie Bishop arrives at Parliament House on her regular morning run on Friday, 24 August 2018, hours before she stood for the leadership.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Defeat hangs over Mathias Cormann and Peter Dutton as they leave the Liberal party room after the final, fateful leadership ballot on Friday, 24 August 2018.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Their victories obvious in their smiles, Josh Frydenberg and Scott Morrison leave the Liberal party room after becoming deputy leader and leader on Friday, 24 August 2018. Morrison said later: ‘It just turns out that he voted for me and I voted for him.’
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Christopher Pyne is close to tears after farewelling Malcolm Turnbull on Friday, 24 August 2018 and leaving the Prime Minister’s courtyard. He wept on the way home to Adelaide.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Showing the strain from the week, Malcolm Turnbull holds his granddaughter, Alice, while his grandson, Jack, yells his disapproval on Friday, 24 August 2018, in Turnbull’s final press conference as Prime Minister.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Scott Morrison gains the spoils of victory while Josh Frydenberg stands guard.
DAVID ROWE, AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW, 25 AUGUST 2018.
Josh Frydenberg with Parliament House cleaner Anna Jancevski three weeks after the leadership spill. She holds a photograph taken by Alex Ellinghausen of her congratulating Frydenberg on the day he became deputy Liberal Party leader.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
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Julia Banks takes her place on the crossbench with fellow MPs Cathy McGowan, Rebekha Sharkie and Kerryn Phelps standing behind. Her decision to quit the Liberals forced Scott Morrison into minority government on 27 November 2018.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
Scott Morrison tests his message with voters at Amuri’s Cafe in Cleveland, Brisbane, in January 2019. The visit to Queensland was a dry run for the election campaign four months later.
PHOTO: DOMINIC LORRIMER.
Former Prime Minister John Howard campaigns with Liberal candidate Fiona Martin in the electorate of Reid early in the 2019 election campaign. Howard later said there was a ‘whiff of 1993’ in the air.
PHOTO: NICK MOIR.
Fearing they would lose Warringah to independent candidate Zali Steggall, the Liberals mobilised to save Tony Abbott. Here, the former Prime Minister is helped by prominent Liberal women. L to R: Jane Hume, Anne Ruston, Linda Reynolds and Sussan Ley.
PHOTO: PETER BRAIG.
‘I’m glad that she wasn’t here today to read that rubbish.’ Bill Shorten speaks of his mother, Ann, on 8 May 2019 after the Daily Telegraph accused him of ‘slipperiness’ in a page one story headlined: ‘Mother of Invention’.
PHOTO: DOMINIC LORRIMER.
Labor’s new leadership takes shape after an election defeat that shattered the party. L to R: Penny Wong, confirmed as Labor leader in the Senate; Richard Marles, elected deputy leader; Anthony Albanese, elected leader; and Kristina Keneally, promoted to deputy leader in the Senate.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
The ‘miracle ministry’ takes shape after an election some expected to lose. Scott Morrison stands with his ministers on the steps of Government House on 29 May 2019.
PHOTO: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book is only possible because I am lucky enough to work with the dedicated journalists of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. An early moment in this project came when the federal editor, Bevan Shields, interrupted one of our conversations in the days after the 24 August leadership spill to say: ‘You should write a book.’ He did not know I had already begun, but his help from that point made all the difference. I thank him and all the members of the Canberra bureau, as well as other wonderful colleagues. Among them are national editor Tory Maguire, the Sydney Morning Herald editor Lisa Davies, The Age editor Alex Lavelle, political editor Peter Hartcher, deputy bureau chief Stephanie Peatling and the essential element in the Canberra bureau, Gabrielle Hooton. The editor-in-chief, James Chessell, backed this project in ways unquantifiable, sometimes by identifying a misplaced plural and sometimes by helping with photographic rights. The support I received, including time away from the office, is forever appreciated. I am especially grateful to James, Bevan and Stephanie for reading the book or parts of it in its early stages.
No journalist works alone. This account is based on my interviews with politicians and advisers but I have cited the work of other journalists wherever possible, and mentioned them in the story at times when their questions or actions were part of the events. There is a difference, slight sometimes but real always, between something a politician volunteers and something he or she only says when asked a good question. This book owes a great debt to the members of the Parliament House press gallery, past and present. Some, like Rob Harris, helped merely by being around to have a yarn. One former member, Phillip Hudson, was so generous he read a section of this book not once but twice and offered suggestions that improved it greatly. I am grateful to Michelle Grattan, Patricia Karvelas and Chris Uhlmann for their time and feedback when reading the book before publication.
Alex Ellinghausen, genius photographer, was an important part of this book. What is often hidden from readers is the way a photographer can see news coming when a reporter is still fumbling with a notebook. It was a privilege to work with Alex and fellow photographer Dominic Lorrimer, and to look over Alex’s shoulder at the screen as we talked about the images in these pages.
I thank all those who spoke to me about these events and their experience. It is easy to forget that the best people in politics believe in their cause and are shattered by a leadership spill or election defeat. For some, talking about the past was like reliving the trauma. Events such as these, replete with contradictory versions of what happened and lasting friction over who deserves praise or blame, naturally spur a secondary rivalry over the ownership of the story. Wherever possible I relied on accounts that could be corroborated by others. Some chose not to speak – believing, perhaps, the old argument from Bismarck that laws are like sausages and it is best not to see them being made. This is the line used by the politician to hoodwink the voter. I believe an elected representative who engages in the removal of a Prime Minister must be accountable, no matter how much he or she might brush off questions about the past. Those who remain silent about these times have an obligation to explain their actions – if not to me, as is their choice, then to others one day.
My agent, Fiona Inglis at Curtis Brown, was enthusiastic from the beginning. It was wonderful to work with Mary Rennie, the publisher at HarperCollins, and editor Nicola Robinson. The copy editor, John Mapps, pruned perfectly. For all the work of the HarperCollins team and the advice of my colleagues in journalism, of course, any errors are mine.
Many friends helped, two of them beyond the call. Liz Youman and Peter Bruce offered a place to stay and company over a meal at the best pub in Sydney. I thank Ksenia Sawczak, Danny Kozak and John and Annelys Stathakis for their encouragement and for not calling the missing persons unit when they had not heard from me for so long.
I thank my parents, John and Joan, for their love and support. My father, a man of great integrity, raised me reading the Sydney Morning Herald at the breakfast table and was never short of an observation when reading this book in draft. My mother has so much insight and empathy she can make a new friend and learn a life story in a minute, which means she could have been a journalist long before I stumbled into it. Thank you to Susan, Mark, Peter, Louise, Jennifer, Philippe, Louise and the next generation of Luca, Chloe, Angus, Tom, Levi and Clare.
This book is dedicated to my daughter, Isabella, who makes every moment a joy. Most importantly, this work and my career would have been impossible without my wife, Rhonda, the love of my life. There is no greater reward at the end of this book than to walk into another room and see her singing at the piano.
ENDNOTES
1. The Wounded Leader
1Luke Simpkins, notes written in 2015 and shared with the author.
2Tony Abbott, interview with the author, 28 February 2019. The Queen’s request was reported after Abbott’s departure as Prime Minister. See Chris Mitchell, Making Headlines, Melbourne University Press, 2016, pp. 68–69.
3Luke Simpkins, notes written in 2015 and interview with the author, 25 January 2019.
4Paul Kelly, ‘Shaken Coalition looks to Plan B’, The Australian, 2 February 2015.
5Tony Barrass, ‘Don Randall plotted Tony Abbott’s downfall for months’, The Australian, 19 September 2015.
6Gabrielle Chan, ‘Leadership spill call: Arthur Sinodinos backs away from Tony Abbott’, Guardian Australia, 4 February 2015.
7David Crowe, ‘Abbott’s pleading calls can’t be made again’, The Australian, 13 February 2015.
8Phillip Coorey, ‘Julie Bishop “goes bananas” over Andrew Robb climate chaperone’, Australian Financial Review, 4 December 2014.
9Tony Abbott, interview with Neil Mitchell, 3AW, 12 February 2015.
10Craig Laundy, interview with the author, 29 January 2019.
11Niki Savva, The Road to Ruin, Scribe Publications, 2016, p. 11.
12Caroline Overington, ‘Credlin to Abbott accusers: “Sneering cowards won’t define me”’, The Australian, 8 March 2016.
13Phillip Hudson, ‘Abbott leadership crisis: Judgment day as Newspoll shows PM losing voters’, The Australian, 9 February 2015.
14Gerard Henderson, Menzies�
�� Child, Allen & Unwin, 1994, p. 266.
15Andrew Southcott, interview with the author, 29 January 2019.
16Russell Broadbent, interview with the author, 20 February 2019.
17Matthew Knott, ‘Eight in 10 voters oppose Turnbull government’s 18C race hate law changes’, Sydney Morning Herald, 28 March 2017.
18Peter Hartcher, ‘Tony Abbott rolled by his own ministers over stripping terrorists of citizenship’, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 May 2015.
19Annika Smethurst, ‘Hair Force One’, Herald Sun, 15 July 2015.
20Heath Aston, ‘“Andrew Bolt knew I was resigning before me”: Bronwyn Bishop’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 June 2016.
21Stuart Rintoul, ‘Town of Beaufort changed Tony Abbott’s view on climate change’, The Australian, 12 December 2009.
22Essential Report, November 2015. The question was: ‘Do you believe that there is fairly conclusive evidence that climate change is happening and caused by human activity or do you believe that the evidence is still not in and we may just be witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate which happens from time to time?’ The poll found that 32 per cent agreed that ‘we are just witnessing a normal fluctuation in the earth’s climate’ and 12 per cent said ‘don’t know’.
23Warren Entsch, interview with the author, 3 October 2018.
24Deirdre McKeown and Rob Lundie, ‘Conscience votes during the Howard Government 1996–2007’, Parliamentary Library, 2 February 2009.
25Chris Uhlmann and Eliza Borrello, ‘Same-sex marriage: Ministers, MPs doubt Abbott’s judgement after ramshackle gay marriage debate’, ABC News, 12 August 2015.