Malcolm Turnbull has blamed a “rightwing insurgency” within the Liberal party for removing him as prime minister, accusing conservatives of doing “enormous damage to the Liberal party brand”.
Turnbull continued his pattern of blunt observations about the August coup in an interview on Thursday, suggesting those responsible for removing him will “have to account for how and why they blew up the government” at the next election.
Asked if Scott Morrison has what it takes to win the upcoming May election, Turnbull told CNBC International “he does”, immediately qualifying the answer by noting “he’s behind in the polls”.
“The coup in August, which was madness, that resulted in my no longer being prime minister, was a rightwing insurgency within my party,” he said on the sidelines of the Credit Suisse Asian investment conference in Hong Kong.
“It did enormous damage to the Liberal party’s brand and set the party back.
“All of that is set out in the opinion polls, you can’t get away from that. A party that was level pegging … [that was] very competitive, [and] in a position to win the election has been put a long way behind.”
The comments echo an interview with the BBC earlier in March, in which Turnbull noted the Coalition had been just two points behind in the public polls when he was removed. He also claimed the government was ahead by four points in internal polling of marginal seats.
The latest Guardian Essential poll puts the Coalition behind Labor 48% to 52% in two-party-preferred terms, while Newspoll has it behind 46 to 54.
Turnbull told CNBC that Morrison could win the May election because “elections are always close in Australia”.
“Ultimately it’s a two-horse race and in a two-horse race either horse can win.
“So, Morrison has every opportunity to win the election but there is no doubt the August coup and the events that followed have been very damaging to the party’s prospects. And I lament that for the Liberal party’s sake but it’s also been a very bad outcome for Australia.
“Those who are responsible for that – and most of them signed their names to a petition so their electors know who they are – these people have to account for how and why they blew up the government.”
Asked if he placed any responsibility on Morrison, Turnbull noted “allegations have been made recently but I accept his assurance that he was not part of that insurgency”.
Since Turnbull lost the leadership, the Liberal party lost his blue-ribbon seat of Wentworth to the independent Kerryn Phelps in a byelection, forcing the Morrison government into minority in the lower house, and Liberal MP Julia Banks quit to join the crossbench.
The party now faces a series of challenges from formerly Liberal-aligned independents – including Zali Steggall in the former prime minister Tony Abbott’s seat of Warringah and Oliver Yates in deputy leader Josh Frydenberg’s seat of Kooyong – who are targeting the government’s record on climate change.
Turnbull said he remained “optimistic about Australian economic growth” despite “changes of pace” in the economy.
“I think the most important thing is to maintain strong economic leadership. And the leadership that my government gave delivered record jobs growth: more jobs created than ever before.”
Turnbull also lamented the state of the Brexit process, suggesting the first referendum invited the public to give “uninformed consent” to the United Kingdom exiting the European Union because “nobody knew what the deal would like”.
He said the campaign environment lent itself “to lies and distortions on an epic scale” and suggested the case for a second referendum is becoming “more compelling all the time”.
“It’s the worst political crisis I’ve seen in the UK, in Australia or the US that I can recall.”
