Turnbull. Part2 Seething for power, page-2

Easy to see why People say Turnbull is left of Rudd.

Did Turnbull strangle the cat ? Or run it Over?

Part 2 of part 2

“I think I am, and most people regard me as being, very much a feminist.”


3rd September, 1988 – A feature piece on Turnbull appears in the Sydney Morning Herald‘s Good Weekend magazine (pg. 56) titled “What Malcolm Wants, Malcolm Gets“. The article quotes Kerry Packer saying he’d hate to get between Turnbull and a sack of gold.

7th September, 1988 – Turnbull launches his new book “The Spycatcher Trial” at an event in Sydney. The keynote speaker is former Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Turnbull is brimming with praise for Whitlam, and even begins referring to him as “the redeemer“, a term usually reserved for Jesus Christ.

Reviewers say the book is “insufferably boastful“, has a “self-congratulatory tone”3, and is a “mixture of braggadocio and candour”4.

13th October, 1988 – Final Spycatcher judgement in UK.

November, 1988 – Turnbull becomes a director of AusFlag, an organisation dedicated to changing the Australian flag, by getting rid of the ‘Union Jack’.

December, 1988 – Turnbull is hired by the state Labor Government of Western Australia as a financial adviser. He praises the then Labor Premier, Peter Dowding, for his “strength of character“, and helps WA Labor try to paint the WA Liberals as agents of the shady businessman, Alan Bond.

Turnbull says he and Dowding had a “warm personal friendship“, and Turnbull later describes Dowding as “a very dear friend”5 who even went on to move to Sydney, just a few doors down from Turnbull, in a house rented off Turnbull.

25th November, 1989 – An article in the Sydney Morning Heraldreveals that Turnbull gave a speech to the Pitt Club, a grouping of federal Liberal and National MPs under the age of 40, and was given an “unexpected drubbing” from his audience.

December, 1989 – Turnbull joins Clover Moore and a gaggle of green-left heritage-mongers, to agitate against the NSW state Liberal–National government’s plans to privatise the old Sydney showground. Turnbull even threatens that the issue could “bring down” the Liberal–National government.

22nd September, 1990 – In a Sydney Morning Herald article, Turnbull is referred to as one of the “largest egos in Sydney”, and a long-time acquaintance is quoted saying:

“His style is confrontation and intimidation – he always tries to go in and bash the hell out of an opponent. The most uncollegiate person I’ve known” 6

13th April, 1991 – In a Good Weekend magazine feature article, Turnbull’s acquaintances are quoted calling him “a prick”, “a turd”, “offensively smug”, “easy to loathe”, “cynical”, “overbearing”, “chilling”, “unnecessarily aggressive”, “vicious”, “nasty”, “savaging”, “abrasive”, “breathtakingly arrogant”, “a good exploiter of publicity”, someone who “will do anything to get what he wants”, and someone who would “devour anyone for breakfast”.

The article notes Turnbull’s hypocrisy in proclaiming to support free speech, but silencing his critics with fear via threats of litigation. Indeed the Good Weekend journalist writes that, during an interview, Turnbull threatened to take out an injunction to prevent his story seeing the light of day, and gave a mini-lecture on the Defamation Act.

This sort of hypocrisy squares perfectly with Turnbull’s contemporary lip service in support of free speech, whilst strongly supporting draconian restrictions on free speech under the Racial Discrimination Act.

It is also revealed that Turnbull nicknames himself “Satan” and his wife is quoted saying he recently “absolutely went off his rocker” over a relatively small matter, “but it became an issue of power in the marriage“. There are also accounts of Turnbull verbally abusing journalists and trying to get them sacked for supporting an opposing point-of-view to his own.

25th June, 1991 – The Labor Party‘s national conference passes a resolution calling for a pro-republic propaganda campaign that would culminate in a referendum by the late 1990s. The Liberalsrespond saying that the republic resolution proves the “Loony Left” are controlling Labor.

7th July, 1991 – Turnbull is a founding director of the Australian Republican Movement (ARM). The organisation is a gaggle of elitist leftists and Labor Party figures including:

• Thomas Keneally – Leftist author. Gough Whitlam supporter. Member of the Advertising Standards Board that approved a “Lolita-style” jeans advert .
• Neville Wran – Former NSW Labor Premier.
• David Williamson – Leftist playwright. Gillard admirer. Carbon tax supporter.
• Franca Arena – State Labor MP.
• Geraldine Doogue – ABC “journalist”.
• David Hill – Then ABC Managing Director & future Labor candidate.
• Faith Bandler – Feminist & former Communist Party member.
• Donald Horne – Leftist journalist, Labor supporter.
• Jenny Kee – Hippie fashion designer who, at 43 years of age, had a relationship with a 22-year-old “toy boy” who subsequently committed suicide. Also posed nude on magazine covers and was a supporter of Gough Whitlam.
• Mark Day – Founding Editor of Australian Playboy & Penthouse.
• Harry Seidler – Son-in-law of former NSW Labor Minister, Clive Evatt (brother of the infamous ‘Doc’ Evatt).
• Franco Belgiorno-Nettis – A businessman who proclaims “Honestly, I don’t think I’m an Australian… I don’t feel Australian.” (Note that Turnbull repeatedly calls republicanism a patriotic movement)
• Ian Chappell – Token sportsman, hater of John Howard and Tony Abbott’s border protection policies.
• Fred Schepisi – Film director and (like Turnbull) a supporter of “artist” Bill Henson, who takes naked photos of children.
• Colin Lanceley – “Artist” and “committed socialist” who only returned to Australia from England due to his revulsion for Margaret Thatcher.
• Blanche D’Apulget – Then Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s then mistress (one of them, at least).
• John Menadue – Gough Whitlam’s private secretary and Department of PM&C head. Founding chair of leftist website ‘New Matilda’.
• Bruce Petty – Self-proclaimed socialist7 & cartoonist for The Age.

The Liberal Party respond by setting up a monarchist task force, and they are attacked by Turnbull. NSW Liberal President and federal Liberal MP Peter King says the ARM is an ALP-inspired organisation “as obvious as night follows day”:

“It’s Labor’s republic and nobody should be fooled by it.”

Turnbull would later admit that the prominent Labor-aligned members of the ARM deliberately kept a low profile8 even though one of them, Neville Wran, had been a progenitor:

“…the Australian Republican Movement was founded following a lunch between [Neville Wran] and Tom Keneally over a bottle of chardonnay. I just wish they had not said that, because we were always accused of being chardonnay-swilling elitists as a consequence.”

31st October, 1991 – Turnbull delivers the 5th Lionel Murphy Memorial Lecture, in honour of the far-left Labor radical, Lionel Murphy, who was Attorney-General in the Whitlam Government.

Turnbull begins the speech by praising Murphy, saying:

“There is very little in Lionel Murphy’s public life that I have ever had cause to disagree with.”

In this speech he also attacks the powers of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, as “almost dictatorial” and “anti-democratic”.



18th March, 1992 – Turnbull and the Keating-Labor Government launch a public attack on the Liberal Party and National Party for opposing a republic. In a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra, Turnbull attacks opposition to the republic as “caveman conservatism“, and specifically targets John Howard. He says having a republic would help us better integrate into Asia, and accuses conservatives of “hiding behind the Royal petticoats”. [audio here]

For Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating though, he has nothing but praise, saying:

“Frankly, I am awestruck by Keating’s courage… Keating is the first mainstream politician to even put his toe into this particular pool, and he should be congratulated for his courage.”

Turnbull also praises Keating for supporting a change to the Australian flag, from which they both want to rip out the ‘Union Jack’.

2nd May, 1992 – In an article for The Australian newspaper titled “Time to show our true colours“, Turnbull writes in opposition to the Australian flag.

18th May, 1992 – At the launch of the West Australian branch of the Australian Republican Movement (ARM) in Perth, Turnbull puts on a characteristic display of megalomania in his treatment of Peter Consandine, founder of the Republican Party of Australia (RPA), which predates the ARM by about a decade.

Instead of praising Consandine for his dedicated pro-republican activism, and bringing him into the tent, Turnbull, desperate to be considered the sole founding father of an Australian republic, attacks him. Turnbull tells the crowd that Consandine’s party was formed to cash in on the success of the ARM, which was obviously absurd considering the RPA predates the ARM by about 10 years.

Consandine confronts him on the matter, and Turnbull dismisses him and tells him that he should change the name of his party so that it isn’t confused with the ARM. Turnbull then grabbed some ARM brochures out of Consandine’s hand, and put them back on the table, and later tells the media that…

“Consandine is an embarrassment … I mean, the guy’s a flea.”

Consandine replies, saying that the ARM is a Labor Party front group:

“One thing I can say with certainty is that there’s ALP card-carriers in their ranks, but there’s no f…ing ALP card-carriers in our ranks!”

This episode is documented in a Sydney Morning Herald article.40

September, 1992 – Turnbull, who presents himself as a warrior for free speech and freedom of information, launches legal action to prevent the publication of a book called “Corporate Cannibals” which covers some of his business and legal activities. He demands some sections of the book be changed.

28th April, 1993 – For the H.V. Evatt Lecture, Prime Minister Paul Keating gives a major pro-republic speech, and admits that the republic is about “revolutionary change”, redefining Australia’s identity and Asian integration.

The lecture is named for the leftist Labor Party stalwart, H.V. “Doc” Evatt, which was yet another indication of the nature of the republican movement.

The Keating-Labor Government creates a “Republic Advisory Committee” to produce an options paper, and appoints Malcolm Turnbull as Chairman. The Liberals say it is a partisan attempt to deal with the issue.

6th June, 1993 – Turnbull is quoted in the Sydney Morning Heraldsaying he prefers a situation where Labor and the Liberal–NationalCoalition have the same fundamental ideology, and fight elections based only on managerial competence. He then attacks the Liberalsfor their conservative orientation at the previous federal election, saying:

“The one thing the last election demonstrated was that the Liberals’ attempt to differentiate themselves ideologically – to move themselves to the right – was a catastrophic mistake.”

9th July, 1993 – The Liberal Party federal executive meeting issues a statement recognising the republican movement as a Labor front:

“… we are totally opposed to the hidden agenda that Labor has in supporting the move to a republic, including its long-term plans to undermine the power of the States, to abolish the Senate, change the flag and eliminate the reserve power of the Governor-General.” 9

29th July, 1993 – The Australian Financial Review reports Turnbull making abusive comments about the Liberal Party and threatening to use his Australian Republican Movement to swing elections against them if they maintain their support for constitutional monarchism. Turnbull is quoted saying:

“A lot of the parliamentary Liberal Party suffer from a pretty profound lack of intellectual depth…Most Liberal politicians, even those who’ve been to universities, seem to have avoided reading and absorbing any books – there aren’t even any distinguished lawyers in the parliamentary party.”

Turnbull also praised Labor, saying Keating was showing leadership and “national vision” on the issue, and that the republican debate was a choice between “an intelligent and an unintelligent party“. He added that:

“The Liberals are going to go into the next election clutching coronation tea cosies, thinking they’ll win…There is a price for supporting the monarchy, and that’s the price of electoral pain.” 10

Many people, including Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, respond saying Turnbull is a Labor partisan who is only interested in ramming through the Keating agenda.



8th August, 1993 – Speaking to the Sunday Age, Turnbull again viciously attacks the Liberals, saying:

“The party is largely composed of geriatrics. They’ve become a joke…The ALP is much better educated these days than the Liberals.” 11

He further adds:

“Politics is increasingly about management, people and vision. This is where the Libs fail. Keating has a vision of an independent Australia carving itself an identity.”



He also makes a failed prediction:

“…the Libs will suffer a big defeat if they stick with the monarchy in the 1996 election. If the Liberal Party makes itself an enemy of the republic, it makes itself an enemy of republicans. And there are more republicans than people who vote Liberal…I mean, the Liberals’ whole strategy is to frighten old women.”

The Liberal Party maintained a pro-monarchy policy for the 1996 federal election, and the Liberal-National coalition won that election in a landslide (94 seats to Labor’s 49).

September, 1993 – In an interview with Charles Firth, for his Sydney Grammar magazine, Turnbull calls the Australian Constitution “a drab and misleading document” in arguing for a republic.

Firth also recounts Turnbull’s views of the Labor Party:

“I distinctly remember that Turnbull then went on to talk about how the Labor Party was the only viable agent of change. That only the Labor Party had the necessary progressiveness to carry the nation through such an important shift in our outlook as a nation.”

16th September, 1993 – Tony Abbott, then Executive Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, writes about Malcolm Turnbull:

“[George] Winterton’s flippant remark that Malcolm Turnbull might be Australia’s first President, is very revealing about the Turnbull committee’s dynamics and further explains why republicanism is in deep trouble…To his credit, Turnbull could easily be making money rather than pursuing a cause. Yet he also displays a bully streak when crossed ― and his threats to the parliamentary seats of Liberal (but not Labor) monarchists have made him look like a Keating stooge.”

Abbott also makes a crucial point about the hidden agenda behind republicanism:

“…many republicans don’t want to celebrate our identity ― but to change it ― and the dump-the-Queen-change-the-flag push is just the latest expression of the “black armband” view of Australian history, that we are an illegitimate nation redeemable only by up-rooting our past.”

5th October, 1993 – Keating’s Republic Advisory Committee,chaired by Turnbull, delivers a 200-page report on the options for an Australian republic. In a subsequent Press Club speech Turnbull admits “We already live in a republic in Australia, by any sensibletest…“. Turnbull also calls the Australian people “chauvinistic”, and says criticism of Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating has been “unfair”.

23rd October, 1993 – Tony Abbott says Turnbull is repeatedly making angry threats of legal action against members of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy for apparent “misquoting“.

Threatening legal action is a long-practiced Turnbull strategy designed to frighten his critics into silence, and restrict speech. Even if people are accurately quoting Turnbull, and making legitimate criticisms, a lot of them will self-censor as a result of Turnbull’s threats, simply because they don’t want to risk being dragged into a time-consuming and costly court process.

November, 1993 – Turnbull’s book The Reluctant Republic is published. In it he:

• Calls the transition to Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe a “diplomatic achievement” (Mugabe called himself a “dedicated socialist”). [pg 148]
• Attacks Liberal Party founder Robert Menzies. [pg 59]
• Praises Labor‘s John Curtin and ‘Doc’ Evatt. [pg 53]
• Admits they tried to hide Labor involvement in the republican movement. [pg 186]
• Praises Paul Keating in the face of Liberal criticisms. [pg 190]
• Wants the Australian flag changed. [pg 199, 200]
• Says monarchists are racist. [pg 217, 218]
• Says monarchists are “cave-man conservatives”. [pg. 227]
• Says monarchists will use racism and sectarianism, and promote ignorance and fear, to achieve their goals. [pg 263]
• Says we should become a republic to impress Asia. [pg 86, 87]
• Attacks former Chief Justice of Australia Sir Garfield Barwick, especially over tax cases (Barwick’s judgements were almost always against the tax office, and in favour of the taxpayer, which angered the left). [pg 124]
• Threatens Liberals with election challenges. [pg 245, 247, 248]
• Expresses his anti-colonial (and therefore anti-Australian and anti-Christian) sentiments. [pg 70, 86]
• Attacks John Howard & Tony Abbott for saying the republic is a Trojan Horse to abolish the states. [pg. 105, 239]
• Says the change to a republic will “define our nationhood”, proving monarchist suspicions that the republic is part of a revolutionary change that seeks to wipe out Australia’s European colonial, Christian history, and start afresh under a so-called ‘progressive’, secular humanist, multi-cultural paradigm. [pg. 71]

22nd November, 1993 – British-Canadian newspaper mogul Conrad Black releases his autobiography. In it he talks about his former business acquaintance, Malcolm Turnbull, saying:

“Malcolm had immense agility at composing scenarios whose common feature was the happy ending of his ruling the world, or whatever part of it was currently under consideration. Malcolm’s fugues were notorious; such as the time [as a young single man] he allegedly punctuated an altercation with a friend by disposing of her cat.”

1993 – According to former Labor Senator, Graham Richardson, Turnbull came into his office and asked for his help to join the Labor Party and get a safe spot on the NSW Labor Senate ticket. Journalist Annabel Crabb, writing in the Quarterly Essay, says:

“The mid-1990s found Malcolm Turnbull discussing, with various Labor figures including Keating, the prospect of his recruitment as a Labor parliamentarian. “Initiated by Keating!” protests Turnbull, who says he refused the approach. “Initiated by Turnbull!” insists Graham Richardson, who wrote that Turnbull asked him in 1993 for a Senate spot but legged it on being told about the tender delights of grass-roots ALP membership.”

11th February, 1994 – At a Senate print media inquiry Turnbull says newspaper mogul Conrad Black is an “extraordinary egotist” who “has almost no regard for telling the truth”. Black later responds saying Turnbull is:

“…in certain circumstances a notoriously unstable man, and allegations of egotism and untrustworthiness emanating from him are, and to say the least, bizarre.”

March, 1994 – Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating’s long-serving press secretary and chief political adviser, Mark Ryan, goes to work for Malcolm Turnbull at his investment bank. Then, just a few months later, Mr Ryan is appointed chief executive officer of Turnbull’s Australian Republican Movement (ARM) organisation.

Liberal shadow minister John Howard said Mr Ryan was a “Keating puppet” and Liberal backbencher Tony Abbott said the appointment confirmed…

“…that the republican movement takes its orders directly from the Lodge…It also demonstrates that the movement is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Wran-Turnbull financial conglomerate.”

11th June, 1994 – Turnbull writes an article for the Canberra Timessaying that the Australian flag should be changed:

“…I have urged advocates of a new Australian flag to produce an attractive and exciting alternative flag.”

3rd July, 1994 – A NSW State Liberal MP and member of the party’s State Executive, Marise Payne (Turnbull’s future Defence Minister), becomes vice-chairman of Turnbull’s Australian Republican Movement (ARM). She is the first Liberal of any significance to join the ARM, and her actions contradict official Liberal policy. She is called out for her betrayal of the party by the federal Liberal MP for Warringah, Tony Abbott, who says:

“The first plank of the party platform is support for the constitutional monarchy…[This contradicts] the constitution, the platform and the policy of the Liberal Party.”

Meanwhile, federal Liberal Leader Alexander Downer says Malcolm Turnbull is “dishonest” regarding his claim that Downer is not vehemently opposed to a republic.

5th July, 1994 – John Howard says the Australian Republican Movement is “a body whose sole aim is to fight the Liberal Party” and is “dominated by Labor sympathisers“. He added that:

The Australian Republican Movement’s chairman, Malcolm Turnbull, threatened some time ago to campaign against sitting Liberals if they didn’t support a republic.”

23rd August, 1994 – The federal Labor government appoints Turnbull and business partner Neville Wran to the board of a failing government-owned shipping line called Australian National Line (ANL). The Liberals criticise it as a “deal for mates” and Turnbull and Wran are said to have “close links” with the NSW Labor Party. Opposition finance spokesman Peter Costello refers to Turnbull and Wran as “jackals” who will “pick the carcass” of ANL, and says Turnbull has “been working so hard for the Labor Party…”.

29th August, 1994 – There is speculation that Turnbull will form a new party with the leftist elements of the Liberal Party, in order to co-operate with Labor on the republic, and oppose the classical liberals and conservatives in the Liberal Party and the National Party.

8th September, 1994 – Turnbull debates Tony Abbott on the republic at Old Parliament House in Canberra.

11th September, 1994 – Democrats Senator, and future Labor MP, Cheryl Kernot confirms that Malcolm Turnbull has discussed with her the possibility of forming a new party together that would split the Liberal Party.

19th September, 1994 – Peter Costello attacks the federal Laborgovernment over the massive salaries they are paying to their newly appointed Australian National Line (ANL) board members, Malcolm Turnbull and Neville Wran. Costello says it is “money for mates” and is otherwise pointless considering the government has already done a deal with the Maritime Union of Australia over the future of ANL.

17th October, 1994 – Turnbull attacks the Liberal Party amidst reports that he had discussions with Democrats Senator Cheryl Kernot, about forming a new party. He said:

“…our political system needs a viable opposition and we don’t have one at the moment….The Liberal Party, as currently structured, is basically finished at a federal level…. The reason there is not more activity to form a new party is that the business community is basically comfortable with the present [Labor] Government.”

10th December, 1994 – In a debate at Sydney University, Turnbull calls Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, an “up-market dole bludger“. The reality, of course, is that the Queen has an exhaustive scheduleof public duties, meetings, receptions and ceremonies.

2nd October, 1995 – The committed republican and prominent Australian poet Les Murray, condemns Turnbull’s Australian Republican Movement (ARM) as part of an “ugly elite” who are rushing Australia towards a “republic of celebrities and hectoring and social scorn“. So contemptuous was Murray of Turnbull’s ARM, that he made these comments while launching Tony Abbott’s new monarchist book, The Minimal Monarchy.

9th October, 1995 – The Australian newspaper reports that elements within Turnbull’s ARM have produced an internal document calling the organisation “anti-democratic, elitist, and under the control of a Sydney dinner-party set.” The leaked document explicitly mentions Turnbull, saying he has a “brash, egocentric and sometimes bullying personal style“.

The Executive Director of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy, Tony Abbott, comments on the document:

“It shows the Australian Republican Movement has too many kings and not enough commoners”

1996 – Turnbull continues to campaign for changing the flag, with his investment banking company, Turnbull and Partners, sponsoring an exhibition of alternative national flag designs.12

December, 1996 – Turnbull organises a series of nationwide anti-John Howard rallies.13

29th January, 1997 – Turnbull attacks John Howard and Nick Minchin as engaging in “an exercise in North Korean political science“.

April, 1997 – Turnbull is hired by the Carr Labor Government to advise on the sale of the TAB.14

July, 1997 – Turnbull and Wran sell their investment bank to Goldman Sachs (Australia & New Zealand) and Turnbull starts working for them as chairman and managing director, with Wran as a senior adviser.15

30th August, 1997 – In the midst of attacking the Howard strategy on the republic, Turnbull is spotted dining at the trendy Oxorestaurant in London, with former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating.16

27th October, 1997 – Turnbull says Australia’s constitutional monarchy is bad because it is anti-multiculturalism:

“It is demeaning to have a foreign monarch as head of state. It sends confusing signals to the region, it is a relic of the colonial days and it is the very antithesis of multiculturalism,” 17

He admits that it will be difficult to persuade an “innately conservative electorate” of this fundamental change to Australia.

7th February, 1998 – Sophie Panopolous writes about her experience as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Old Parliament House in Canberra:

“At the end of each day, I have been recording a diary for our national broadcaster. Malcolm Turnbull’s demeanour has been my barometer of proceedings. On the first day he was all smiles and robust with confidence. As a greater diversity of views was expressed on the second day, he just turned into his usual smug self – the public face of the Australian Republican Movement (ARM) as we have come to know it.

After attacks from other republicans and accusations that he was trying to railroad the proceedings, Turnbull faced the reality that non-ARM republicans would not come to the fold.

His abuse of ACM (Australians for Constitutional Monarchy) and the untruths he attributes to our involvement at the convention has embarrassed many ARM delegates, who have privately apologised on his behalf. They say they would like their leader to apologise publicly. We will wait a long time before we hear “I’m sorry” from Turnbull.

He has been grumpy and sulky since he realised he had to share the republican platform. Just like another patrician, Dorian Gray, perhaps Turnbull can commission his own portrait of the soul and deprive me of my daily barometer.” 18

February, 1998 – Turnbull approaches Kim Beazley at the Constitutional Convention, regarding his interest in gaining a Labor seat in parliament.