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Former prime ministers who keep quiet have been showered with soft coverage, praising them for their great dignity. The tactic has been pioneered by the Murdoch empire over the past few years in the debate about Murdoch’s abuse of his media monopoly. But rather than debate the substance of the criticism, instead they seek to delegitimise the critics. If it wasn’t effective, they wouldn’t bother. They know Turnbull’s criticisms of Morrison’s duplicitous character are devastatingly effective because they confirm what voters already know about the prime minister. The political strategy behind this confected outrage from Murdoch, Downer and other conservatives is clear. On Sky News on Sunday, Alexander Downer said that by attacking Morrison, Turnbull looked mean spirited and bitter, and accused us both of “playing out an act of vengeance”. It is a rolling national conversation that should include as many Australians as possible. Democracy isn’t just something that happens in polling booths every three years. On the core questions of our time – including our national security, our economic security, and our climate security – it is therefore the responsibility of every Australian citizen to engage as fully and freely as they can. The fact that former Liberal leaders, such as Turnbull and John Hewson, are among its strongest critics speaks volumes. It is mired in allegations of corruption, internally riven, contemptuous of public trust, abusive of taxpayer funds, and reckless in the prosecution of our country’s national security and international relations. These conservatives bemoan “cancel culture” but they have turned it into an art form.īy anyone’s measure, Morrison leads one of the most incompetent governments in living memory. Which is precisely what they are now doing in relation to former prime ministers who do not share their world view. Murdoch and Morrison routinely attack the political left for attempting to “cancel” the voices of those whom they disapprove. The bottom line with Murdoch’s recent attacks on Turnbull, Paul Keating and myself is that it is a new version of conservative cancel culture. Abbott’s right to contribute to the national political discourse did not end when he lost his seat.

In fact, later this month, Abbott and I are jointly appearing to launch a new book to which we’ve both contributed.

Where is the criticism of Tony Abbott, who has been published in Murdoch papers more than 30 times since leaving parliament? What about Abbott’s fortnightly podcast produced by the Institute of Public Affairs, where Abbott waxes lyrical about the evils of the Australian Labor party?Īs a free speech advocate, I think Abbott is perfectly entitled to remain fully engaged in public political debate.

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