Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is not a good politician and never has been, but he's not alone because political skills are in short supply, retiring Nine News political editor Laurie Oakes says.

The 74-year-old media veteran took parting shots and reminisced about the "good old days" at a farewell lunch hosted by the Melbourne Press Club on Friday.

While indulging in some nostalgia for the Paul Keating days and a phone call with the former Labor prime minister on how to play politics, Oakes lamented on the current state of affairs.

"The necessities of politics have prevented Malcolm from being the man we thought he was, and the man he thought he was," Oakes told the gathering.

"But the current PM's main problem in my view is that he's just not very good at politics, never has been. He the lacks the skills.

"Political skills, I think, have been in short supply in the post-Howard era in all parties. The recent generation of politicians could do well with a how-to lecture from Paul Keating."

He said politicians were too scared after learning the game through "back-office bureaucratic schools" and focus groups dictating what they said and did.

"Be funny, be clever, be witty. You just don't see that any more. I don't understand why," Oakes said.

"I'd like to see (Immigration Minister) Peter Dutton be witty, but it's something I haven't witnessed yet."

In June, Oakes broke a long-standing off-the-record agreement among media outlets by reporting Mr Turnbull's impersonation of President Donald Trump during Canberra's parliamentary Mid-Winter Ball.

If a less senior and respected journalist had broken unwritten deal, the backlash would have been vicious, Oakes admitted.

"I'm sure people would have come down on that journalist pretty fierce," he said.

"I hope the battle's won. I don't think there'll be more off-the-record press gallery balls. I think they'd be better for it, by the way. I think the speeches would be better.

"(Opposition Leader) Bill Shorten didn't put any effort into this year's speech. It was pathetic. He'd give a better one next year if the cameras are on."

While he praised journalists' efforts to keep politicians honest and investigate wrongs, mainstream media also needed to stop giving oxygen to online trolls.

He pointed to the recent uproar over social media comments on a photo of Mr Turnbull at the football holding his baby granddaughter and a beer.

"A few loonies criticised him on social media and that should have been that," Oakes said.

"I happen to think allowing Twitter trolls to have a role in setting the news agenda is not what we should be about. We shouldn't be comfortable with it."