Former Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull finally announced his retirement from federal politics yesterday — via Twitter, no less:
As Bernard Keane wrote in yesterday’s Crikey Daily Mail, rumours of his retirement had been circulating right through Easter, and it’s hard not to suspect many of Australia’s politics pundits already had pre-written obituaries on file, sandwiched somewhere between Fidel Castro’s and Kim Jong-il’s.
Nevertheless, many have expressed genuine sadness and disappointment at the end of a political career that never quite reached expectations.
Although his departure may be a relief for Tony Abbot, Keane says the Liberal Party is still the biggest loser in Turnbull’s exit:
Maybe the next generation — Paul Fletcher, Jamie Briggs, Greg Hunt, Scott Morrison, Kelly O’Dwyer — can chart an ideological path forward for the conservative side of politics, but only Turnbull looked up to the task, provided he could assert his leadership authority. Now we’ll never find out.
In a more personal piece on Crikey‘s The Stump blog, he also lamented the loss his retirement represents to Australian public life in an open letter:
I disagreed with any number of your policies – indeed, probably most of them – but I reckon you would have made a great Prime Minister.
Here are the rest of the offerings from the obituary section of today’s political pages:
The Australian
Peter van Onselen: Easter convinced a martyr there’d be no ressurection
… he craved to know whether his colleagues thought he had any chance of resuming the leadership in the aftermath of the next election
Paul Kelly: Too fast to stay on track for the prize
Turnbull leaves still having much to contribute to public life but without the necessary motivation to remain.
Sydney Morning Herald
Peter Hartcher: Turnbull: the final shame
Turnbull has turned out to be a political skyrocket, the firework that zooms to a great height in a great hurry then flares out and falls back to earth charred and burnt.
The Age
Tony Wright: Rich man, poor man
… one of the few Australian public figures who might properly be called a renaissance man
Daily Telegraph
Malcolm Farr: Too lively to sit quietly at the back and ruminate
Turnbull, a man well equipped by intellect, energy and experience to become prime minister, has realised that he never will have that job.
Courier Mail
Denis Atkins: Turnbull will be missed in the political bullring
In the end, the Liberal Party couldn’t find room at the top for a modern, progressive and creative thinker
ABC
Lyndal Curtis: ‘Force of nature’ says goodbye to politics
… he never got to run for, or be, prime minister. And he played a large part in his own downfall.
Greg Barns: Malcolm Turnbull’s small ‘l’ liberalism leaves big legacy
… he represented a brand of political values that is not found in either of the major political forces in this country today – liberalism with a small ‘l’.
Ben Atherton: Malcolm Turnbull: A political life
… he is not seen as the type of man who would find working on the backbench fulfilling.
Elsewhere…
Mark Westfield, Business Spectator: Turnbull: Goodbye to a true ‘Greenie’
… a genuine ‘environmentalist’ who believes the only way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is to put a price on it
Scott Bridges, Groupthink: Unfortunate that it came to this
If more people like Malcolm Turnbull stood up and gave it half the crack he did, this nation would be greater for it.
Grog’s Gamut: Turnbull — Burning out, and fading away
… he was never as good as everyone thought he could be
Such flowery rhetoric!
Turnbull was a self appointed ‘man who would be King (ironic eh?). He saw himself as the only viable Prime Minister of this country! That arrogance is what brought him undone.
When he became leader of the Fed/Libs the megalomania came bursting out.
It is a peculiar phenomenon to see a so-called Moderate behave in such an autocratic and positively….. regal manner! The bloke even referred to the fact that he was leader and the Party should follow him!!
Now that is dumb. Really dumb. The Minc(h)ing Machine, and the Monk were…er,…right behind him….
AND Grech?
Turnbull behaved like a bloody idiot, and got shafted for it. And ANY Party that this man were to join would inevitably be ‘run’ by him.
If he returns to politics he will need to create his own Party and be boss cocky.
But he won’t. He needed the large/main Party to achieve his goals. The bloke I suspect would not like to be a medium sized cog in a very small wheel.
He is master of his own political demise, and STILL can’t accept that his skill and expertise were not recognised by the Liberal hierarchy.
nobody has yet to discuss the financial implications to the Liberal Party of losing Turnbull
Crikey have previously painted Turnbull as the chief rainmaker as far as fundraising goes – will there now be a drought? Will Turnbull remain in the party and continue to bring in the dollars, or will he find other causes for which to charm the wallets off the rich?
with big business criticising the Liberal Party over their migration policy, and previously laughing at barbaby’s grasp of economic policy, are the Liberal Party going to be solely dependant on the contents of little old ladies’ piggy banks?
Skink, I had a similar thought last night. Election campaigns in Wentworth are not cheap, and Turnbull reportedly spent a large amount of his own money retaining the seat. Is there an awkward meeting ahead in which the Party asks him to cough up for the new candidate?