ABC says episode an chance for Turnbull ‘to answer questions from the people of Australia’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Malcolm Turnbull will return to the ABC’s Q&A program for his first major interview since losing the prime ministership to Scott Morrison.

Turnbull made frequent appearances on the program as a frontbencher in the run up to taking the Liberal leadership from Tony Abbott in 2015, including one outing in a leather jacket, which was later auctioned off for charity.

The former prime minister has remained in the public spotlight intermittently since he was deposed as prime minister, but has not made a substantial commentary since his final press conference in Canberra in August.

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There have been grumblings about Turnbull within the government, with some colleagues complaining he was not more active on behalf of the Liberal party’s candidate in the Wentworth byelection.

There has also been tension between the former prime minister and Morrison over the new prime minister’s inclination to move Australia’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Turnbull late on Monday implicitly warned his successor against following through with the shift Morrison telegraphed in the run-up to the byelection, after a meeting with the Indonesian president on Monday.

Turnbull warned there would be consequences for Australia’s relationship with Jakarta. Morrison dismissed that advice, saying Australia would forge its own foreign policy.

The ABC is billing the special episode, hosted by Tony Jones on 8 November, as an opportunity for Turnbull “to answer questions from the people of Australia”.

Turnbull is also set to deliver a keynote speech at the Australian and New South Wales bar associations’ national conference in Sydney on 16 November.

Turnbull will address the conference’s formal dinner at the Cutaway, Barangaroo, the reconstructed headland on Sydney harbour’s foreshore.

While no topic is listed for Turnbull’s speech, the themes of the conference are “relevant, resilient and respected” – three concepts described as “key to the legal profession dealing with disruption and change within contemporary society”.

Turnbull has been publicly critical of the former Australian prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott, branding them “miserable ghosts” who are unable to move on.

In a speech in New York, Turnbull said he would not be a “trappist monk” now he was out of parliament but it was important not to be driven by hate.