Senior government ministers are openly comparing the leaking and undermining of Malcolm Turnbull to the campaign waged against Julia Gillard during the 2010 election after she ousted Kevin Rudd. The latest astonishing – and possibly inaccurate – leak has been referred to the Australian federal police.



It is obviously now up to the police to determine who did this leaking of classified defence documents. But Tony Abbott is quoted in the same article, penned in the Australian by his close friend Greg Sheridan, commenting on what the leak is purported to reveal.

For some time, the former prime minister’s occasional legacy-polishing international speeches have been escalating into more serious and frequent interventions.

Whether or not Abbott meant it last September when he said, “My pledge today is to make this change as easy as I can. There will be no wrecking, no undermining and no sniping. I’ve never leaked or backgrounded against anyone. And I certainly won’t start now”, it would appear either he, or his backers and supporters, aren’t taking that advice now.

Malcolm Turnbull refers leak of defence draft to federal police Read more

This week Abbott had already publicly undermined the Turnbull government’s economic strategy – an intervention clad in politeness but highly damaging all the same – backing in the so-called backbench “revolt” that has, for some time, been trying to corral Malcolm Turnbull into repeating his predecessor’s rejected budget policy – focusing on deep cuts to health, welfare and education and abandoning any crackdown on tax loopholes predominantly used by the rich. Abbott has said he wears the 2014 budget as a “badge of honour”. The electorate would beg to differ.

Abbott has also called for the defunding of the Safe Schools program, because he says it is actually “social engineering”, despite it having been funded during his years as prime minister and despite it being a program Turnbull and his minister, Simon Birmingham, obviously intend to retain.

But those unhelpful interventions pale in comparison with Sheridan’s article, alleging that the Turnbull government’s defence white paper that was released last week had deferred by “almost a decade” Australia’s new submarines.

Sheridan’s assertion of the delay is backed by “several sections of the draft white paper” produced under Abbott and former defence minister Kevin Andrews, which he says he has “obtained”. Sheridan, of course, does not say who leaked him the sections of the draft white paper, documents that would have the highest security clearance. He has denied Abbott gave him the documents.

Coalition's sugar-coated compliments mask attempt to revive bitterest budget | Lenore Taylor Read more

But he then quotes Abbott effectively confirming the alleged delay. “I’m not just disappointed, I’m flabbergasted at this decision,” he said.

It is unclear whether the “delay” allegation is in fact true because, before the story had even been published, the head of the defence force, air chief marshal Mark Binskin, had been asked whether any delay had occurred after the change of prime ministers and he said very vehemently this had not been the case. Turnbull told parliament defence had advised, since 2013, that it was “highly unlikely” the submarines would be delivered by the date the story claims they could have been delivered under the Abbott government plans.

The impact of the repeated interventions is obvious – to keep the Turnbull government unsteady and off balance – just as the Gillard government was. Caught short without a tax policy Turnbull and his ministers are already badly exposed to Labor’s attack. That’s their own fault.

But we’ve seen how it ends when governments are also subjected to constant undermining from their own side.