*Update: Alan Jones contacted MP's to urge change.
If there was anything that came out of the Liberal party shafting of their second prime minister in it's five year term of gov, it's that the influence of Rupert Murdoch leading the charge against Turnbull became blatantly obvious. Murdoch and his minions who bow down to him and obey him like pawns, along with the Murdoch media, all became (as Chris Uhlmann said last week) "part of the story".
Ex prime minister Kevin Rudd has written a very frank article about last weeks politics in particular, but also spanning the last ten years of Australian politics which has seen now 6 prime ministers in that time. Last weeks insurgency against Turnbull from within the Liberal party itself has to be the most brutal turfing of a PM in that time.
Murdoch's minions also of course include Tony Abbott. Under the Howard gov he was known as the attack dog, and indeed that's all he appears to be good at; attacking and tearing things down, whilst at the same time having nothing to replace it.
Take the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) introduced and passed into law by the Gillard Labor gov. Abbott demonised the whole thing, panicked people about it, despite the scheme working. Australian carbon emissions were going down under it and political commentators in Canberra agreed that it was a good policy. Along with a large proportion of Australians.
But for Abbott he didn't give a fuck about good policy, particularly not this one, as a climate change denier. Soon after taking office (with the unfettered help of Murdoch) the Abbott gov repealed the ETS. He had nothing to replace it except token gestures to give the facade of him looking like he was doing something. Ever since then Australia's carbon emission have only increased, and we have no hope of reaching the Paris climate change agreement on this present course. Abbott's answer? Drop out of the Paris agreement. FFS!Then there is the unique negativity, toxicity and hatred that one man - Tony Abbott, John Howard's political disciple - has brought to our national political life over the past decade.Very recently Murdoch was in Australia along with his even more RWNJ son Lachlan. It was then that Australia's Murdoch media went into overdrive to turf Turnbull.
Abbott has never cared about policy. He has only cared about politics and winning at any cost. I cannot remember a single positive policy initiative that Abbott has championed and then implemented. Not one. As a result, unconstrained by policy, the entire energy of this giant wrecking ball of Australian politics has been focused on destroying his opponents - within the Labor Party and the Liberal Party. Of all modern politicians, Abbott is sui generis. His singular, destructive impact on national politics cannot be underestimated.
But on top of all the above, while manipulating each of them, has been Rupert Murdoch - the greatest cancer on the Australian democracy.
Murdoch is not just a news organisation. Murdoch operates as a political party, acting in pursuit of clearly defined commercial interests, in addition to his far-right ideological world view. The Age - Kevin Rudd
Many of Mr Turnbull's supporters in Parliament believe last week's coup was actively supported by News Corp's newspapers and some presenters on its pay-TV station, Sky News, as well as by Ray Hadley and Alan Jones, employed by 2GB, which is owned by Fairfax Media, publisher of this website.
Senior Liberal sources sympathetic to Mr Turnbull have told Fairfax Media that they believe some commentators overstepped democratic conventions during the coup and became active players, going so far as to lobby MPs on behalf of the insurgents and maintain momentum for Peter Dutton's forces after the first spill failed.
Channel Nine's chief political correspondent Chris Uhlmann last week said Jones, Hadley, and "Sky after dark" presenters such as Peta Credlin, a former chief-of-staff to Mr Abbott, were "players in the game" to depose Mr Turnbull.
Senior Liberals close to Mr Turnbull believe Ms Credlin, Mr Jones, and Ross Cameron, a former Liberal MP and current Sky News host, contacted some MPs directly to criticise Mr Turnbull.
The sources in politics and media who spoke to Fairfax Media for this story would not be named because they wanted to protect professional relationships.
Ms Credlin denies that she had any involvement whatsoever and said that she is enjoying her career outside politics. "I am not in this fight," she said. Mr Cameron declined to comment and Mr Jones did not respond to a call.
The day before he was forced from office Mr Turnbull himself made it clear he believed that actors outside Parliament contributed to his downfall.
"The reality is that a minority in the party room, supported by others outside the Parliament, have sought to bully, intimidate others into making this change of leadership that they're seeking," he said.
Several sources close to Mr Turnbull have confirmed his comments were directed at the 2GB hosts, and News Corp.
Senior Liberals have told Fairfax Media that they believe News Corp's coverage of Mr Turnbull's government has been biased since he took office, but that it turned particularly savage the week before last when Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch arrived in Australia. Some suspect that News Corp editors were acting at the instructions of the Murdochs. The Age
I know in Australia these turfing of PM's has become great sport in the electorate, especially when it's happening on the other side of politics that you support. Australia even has it's own unique term when a spill begins - "It's on!". But honestly this is just at the point of ridiculous now. Climate change policies have been destroyed and in limbo all for the sake of political wreckers in their lust for power.
It's a game to the likes of Abbott, nothing more. I'll always remember one time Abbott's retort on a TV interview about something he said and then went back on - "It's only politics". In other words he's a career politician who looks at Canberra as a big game that shouldn't be taken seriously; that he can lie and destroy good policy with that justification.
No, this is much more than a political game. Climate change is about the survival of civilisation on the planet, maybe even the survival of humanity itself. Murdoch and his pawns are playing games with our lives.
Not surprising really after the way they made David and I's marriage into a political game. ...
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