It’s been almost a decade since Malcolm Turnbull held power over the nation, yet his presence managed to haunt the Liberal leadership spill.
He whinged and rambled from the sidelines, dragging himself through the legacy press with his same old, tired line about ‘the centre’.
Conservative voters would like a proper definition for this mysterious ‘centre’ which seems to be located somewhere under Labor’s wing.
When asked if Angus Taylor was the answer to the Liberal Party’s problems, he replied:
‘No. No… He’s absolutely not. No leader is. What they really need to do is move back to the centre. They’ve got to start talking about the economy and talking about – not just in bland motherhood statements – lower taxes, less government, that sort of stuff…’
You have to love how he tells the Liberal Party to move to the centre, then approximates One Nation’s electoral strategy.
Turnbull isn’t nicknamed the ghost entirely because of his lingering presence and unwanted jump scares… His out-of-touch commentary is so far removed from the average conservative voter that he might as well inhabit a different veil of existence.
Newly empowered Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price had something to say about this malevolent presence haunting the broad church.
‘I tell you what, who needs to zip their lips though, Malcolm Turnbull. That bloke… You’re done. You’re dusted. You’re a has-been. Please move on, Malcolm. We don’t want to hear your ramblings anymore.’
Jacinta Price slams Malcolm Turnbull.
'You're done, you're dusted, you are a has-been, please move on, Malcolm.'#auspol pic.twitter.com/EcGABk3Xd7— Timjbo ?? (@TimjboAU) February 15, 2026
She went on to say that he didn’t have anything beneficial to contribute and welcomed, jokingly, his thought-experiment with the ABC on starting a new movement.
‘Go ahead, do that…’
And to be fair, Turnbull had been talking a significant amount of trash about the new Liberal Leader, Angus Taylor.
‘They [the right] had control over Dutton, they burned it to the ground. They’ve now got their man in again with Angus Taylor. Will they do even more damage? There are not a lot left to burn.’
Turnbull added, ‘The curious thing a lot of people say about Angus Taylor is he is the best qualified idiot they’ve ever met.’
He then went on to call the membership, ‘So old. So right wing.’ Then described Alex Antic’s region of the Liberal Party as being in the hands of the far-right.
Who needs a Labor Party when you’ve got former Liberal Prime Ministers saying this sort of thing in public…
As I casually went to check on Turnbull’s X account, I discovered that I was blocked. Not my personal account … The Spectator Australia had been blocked.
If you really want to depress yourself, go read the comments on the ABC video linked above. It’s enough to make you want to move to Cuba for something more centrist.
In summary, the mere fact that Jacinta Nampijinpa Price felt she was safe to make those comments suggests that Malcolm Turnbull is right, and that a new faction has control of the leadership.
Whether or not the ghouls of the past can be exorcised from the broad church before the restoration takes place, is yet to be seen.
Perhaps they can invite Pauline Hanson inside for a little while to walk around brandishing sage in all the dark, rotten corners.
