What really happened, who did who in, and why — these are the juicy, gossipy aspects of leadership struggles that make politicians’ recollections so tantalising. Like driving past a fender bender, you are tempted to slow down and survey the damage.
As the small-l Liberal who attempted unsuccessfully to stare down the right-wing of the Liberal Party, known to his enemies as ‘Mr Harbourside Mansion’ or as the best Labour Prime Minister to ever lead the Liberal Party (2015-2018), Malcolm Bligh Turnbull was a man who dreamed, spoke and spent big.
He will be remembered, as with most of us humans, for failing to achieve his goals, specifically in the realm of governing this country. That statement, however, is made in the context of recognising the huge personal and financial successes Turnbull achieved.
For the uninitiated, we are led through the sad human realities of the author’s childhood, Turnbull’s student days, his salad days as a highly successful lawyer and merchant banker, his flirtations with politics that led him to the top of the tree, and his love-hate relationships.
This hefty autobiography, A Bigger Picture, is essential reading for anyone looking back at the ‘Nineties,’ the ‘Noughties’ and the ‘2000 teens’ to try to work out exactly why we still have a lack of national leadership on climate change.
'Turnbull’s humour and venom make for interesting reading, as do his insider versions of events from recent history.'
Coming in at 698 pages, A Bigger Picture alternates between eviscerating, chronicling and acknowledging most of Turnbull’s former political allies and foes in a saga of wit, betrayal, lust, treachery, a thirst for power and a desire for change. It informs and entertains on an epic, if not biblical, scale.
The book comes with a cover photo of the plutocrat and former PM staring out of the darkness down the barrel of a camera. It’s a beautifully apt image considering the author’s brave admissions of depression and suicidal thoughts following his knifing as Leader of the Opposition.
There are large concepts that embody this book. Among them are the notion of healing from childhood and lifetime hurts and wrongs; the maturation of a nation that may have come to pass with a republic; the freedom that comes to live your life when you have cash to back your independence and actions; the pursuit of justice and the bunfights over what to include in human rights; the failure of Australian legislators to effectively combat climate change and water depletion.
These choice blossoms of thought are fertilised by the shite Turnbull dishes to enrich the book’s soil. We learn volumes — from the writer’s perspective — about the likes of Abbott, his minder Credlin, Rudd, Howard, Gillard, Morrison, Shorten, Joyce, Heffernan, Keating, Dutton, Cormann, Hockey, Pyne, Bishop (Julia), Hawke, Fraser, Whitlam, Ardern, Key, Lang, Wran — the list goes on.
The shrill responses in right wing circles suggests that many of the barbs have sunk home. The reality is that the man of principle espoused in these pages was never to fully emerge from his years of politics. That says much about the horse trading that enables the game of politics.
For those who don’t want to walk down the paths of pin the tale on the leader — those mortals who are thoroughly sick of the conga line of PMs, post-Howard — there is a broader, well known cast that Turnbull has brought to life in this memoir: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Margaret Thatcher, Xi Jinping, Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer, Bruce Gyngell, Geoffrey Robertson, Robert Hughes — Malcolm namedrops with aplomb and relevance, showing himself to be the most well-connected of players.
Turnbull’s humour and venom make for interesting reading, as do his insider versions of events from recent history.
When you live, albeit comfortably, in the rubble of failed efforts to fix things, then the best way forward is to set the record straight in the public sphere and market place. Revenge is a dish best served up with humour and the former PM doesn’t miss anyone on his way through the decades.
It’s fair to say that Malcolm is an intelligent and successful man who has his place in history; it is also fair to say he doesn’t mind letting us know about it.
Barry Gittins is a Melbourne writer.
Main image: Malcolm Turnbull at conference (Chairmamn of the joint chiefs of staff/Flickr)