Malcolm Turnbull has been heckled by his fellow Liberals after declaring in a speech to their New South Wales state council that the party was not driven by “factions” and “back-room deals”.
In a speech on Saturday, Turnbull – who became prime minister after rallying a rebellion that ousted Tony Abbott in a leadership spill – had sought to contrast the Liberal party with Labor.
After earlier eliciting applause when he thanked Tony Abbott for his service, Turnbull was scoffed at when he declared: “We are not run by factions.”
Laughter and derision rose from the floor. Turnbull continued: “Well, you may dispute that, but I have to tell you, from my experience we are not run by factions.”
That brought more jeers from the audience, which increased as Turnbull went on: “Nor are we run by big business or by deals in back rooms.”
Turnbull had being seeking to differentiate the Liberal party from Labor, which he said was estranged from its grassroots and entirely made up of “political apparatchiks” including former union officials and political staffers.
But the remarks backfired as the reaction from the conference floor showed that discontent lingers over the manner of Abbott’s departure after Turnbull publicly declared a challenge, triggering a leadership spill and the sitting prime minister’s demise.
Before that vote was taken, Abbott said fellow Liberals had impressed upon him that “we are not the Labor party”, in reference to the party room manoeuvres that saw the prime ministership pass back and forth between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard.
In his conference speech Turnbull had earlier praised Abbott as having taken the Liberals “out of the wilderness of opposition … [he] took us back into government and achieved great things, great reforms, great commitments … and I say to you as his successor, all of us owe him an enormous debt”.
