Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the biggest unanswered questions of the past few months has been: why was Malcolm Turnbull removed as Prime Minister, and how did Prime Minister Morrison emerge as Australia's 30th Prime Minister? None of those opposite can give a straight answer to this simple question.

I refer to published extracts from David Speers's new book, On Mutiny, which aims to give some answers on this chaotic and divided government, because we know there aren't any answers coming from those opposite. What it reveals is a deceitful, treacherous and toxic government hell-bent on plotting revenge and undermining to remove Prime Minister Turnbull, all the while forgetting about the Australian people. We know that Prime Minister Morrison began plotting his moves to replace Turnbull with what the book refers to as his 'two lieutenants'—the Special Minister of State and the head of 'parliamentary friends of payday lending', the Assistant Treasurer—to do his dirty work. They set out on a strategy to target colleagues with a view to installing the now Prime Minister in the top job.

One paragraph says it all, about how our Prime Minister lurked in the background secretly plotting behind the back of the now former PM:

Morrison parlayed his half a dozen votes into the prime ministership—

said the member for Warringah—

manoeuvring to bring on a spill and then harvest Turnbull votes to get the top job.

This is a government that is divided, unstable and illegitimate and shows no signs of improving, led by a Prime Minister who secretly made moves to slide into the top job through the back door. (Time expired)