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Scott Morrison's predecessor Malcolm Turnbull will be a no-show at this Sunday's campaign launch, opting instead to stay in New York. The former PM's absence deprives the Liberals of a chance to stage the same show of unity for mer prime ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd demonstrated at Labor's launch. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have confirmed that Mr Turnbull will be in the US at the weekend. Former Labor prime ministers Mr Rudd, Paul Keating and Ms Gillard joined forces on Sunday to send a message of unity to voters, almost a decade after the coup Ms Gillard initiated against Mr Rudd, which triggered a decade of instability in Australian politics. Questioned on ABC's 7.30 about the revolving door prime ministership, Mr Morrison said that he didn't like it, but had sought to fix the issue by introducing tougher requirements to roll leaders, similar to rules introduced by Mr Rudd for Labor in 2013. But in a sign of how raw the party's leadership change remains, Mr Morrison refused to say if his predecessors and factional foes Tony Abbott and Mr Turnbull will show up to the official campaign launch. "It's not going to be a party hoopla event," the Prime Minister said. "It's not about the Liberal Party and it's not about the National Party. Labor's launch on the weekend I thought was very much about the Labor Party. "It's not about who is coming, it's about who will be listening and my opportunity to go to set out to them once again the choice of this election." Just hours earlier, deputy Liberal leader and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also avoided answering the same question. "I don't know," Mr Frydenberg told Radio National. "Malcolm Turnbull's overseas at the moment, Tony Abbott's probably busy in Warringah." SMH/The Age

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