Malcolm Turnbull | Full Address and Q&A | Oxford Union

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Malcolm Turnbull served as Australia’s 29th Prime Minister from 2015 to 2018, having started in politics as Chair of the Republican Movement. During his administration, he was best known for overseeing the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia, and for taking in Central American asylum seekers, following a deal with the USA.
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[@NotChukkov]

He's a good speaker but it's hard to take him seriously about anything when he went from "I will not lead a party that is not as serious on climate change as I am" as Opposition Leader, to "We're doing enough on climate change, and coal's not that bad anyway" as PM, to "Coal is dying and trying to delay its death is sacrificing renewable jobs" after he was out of parliament Also, he failed to mention he set up a Medicare Privatisation Taskforce to look at the viability of selling parts of Medicare (I think they said the phone system could be outsourced) which was what gave MediScare credibility. And right before he gave this speech his own party spread a "Death Tax" lie about Labor and other things; something that was never Labor policy, and also targeted old people. They sure did learn from MediScare!

[@HappyLarry.]

Honestly it feels like he would've made a decent conservative Labor member if he'd actually stuck to credibility as his focus. As PM it seemed like most of his job was just attempting to quell infighting and maintain his position rather than make any genuine policies

[@pepegathetoad486]

yo wtf ur here

[@anEyePhil]

I am Aussie. He was our 2nd best PM. Kevin Rudd was our best PM, a true scholar. They should come together and form a truly moderate party in Australia. We hate Murdoch and his ultra-right. Malcolm and Kev, I will vote for you if you do this.

[@gortnewton4765]

You must be kidding! He was appalling.

[@anEyePhil]

@@gortnewton4765 Scomo is appalling. He is owned by Murdoch, mining, fossil fuels, Gina and the IPA troglodytes.

[@gortnewton4765]

@@anEyePhil Mining and fossil fuels people HATE him. He want's to shut that stuff DOWN!!!!! Anyway, he is a Scumo.

[@Coolsomeone234]

Man someone here is a centrist

[@Bully1973]

Look up Turnbulls 'sycophant' speech in the Australian parliament Question time. Brilliant.

[@maniveiszadeh8030]

He's one of the least toxic Liberals in Australia, but this was a lot of sour grapes.

[@tomdalgleish]

This guy was a hopeless campaigner which is the reason he nearly lost the 2016 election, having inherited a huge majority from his predecessor. He was hopelessly Sydney-centric. Any Sydney or NSW cause was given his immediate attention while stalling or ignoring any request more distant, particularly the most distant from Sydney. He was good at enterprise but again, it became a reason to favour his own State showing that he was never a republican sympathiser but in reality he was a States rightest for NSW.

[@mug401]

Was he the one who spent 50 billion on aging technology called NBN which runs slowly cos its hooked onto a cable wire.

[@tomdalgleish]

No it wasn't. That was Rudd.

[@Roadrunnerz45]

@@tomdalgleish rudd was providing all fibre to the premises which would have been faster. turnbull changed some of the rollout to save money and quicken the rollout.

[@biscuithammer2000]

@@Roadrunnerz45 was so fucking pissed when i heard that....Made Australia have the slowest internet in the western world...

[@thomaselliott573]

@@Roadrunnerz45 they were both half-wits

[@MVKreal]

@@Roadrunnerz45 that was going to take decades and cost the taxpayer of 90 billion per year for a network they were still going to have to pay for

[@michael57603]

Malcolm has ideas and speaks with substance, although perhaps a bit vengeful towards his opponents (and fatally perceived as such). When a power hierarchy displaces a competence hierarchy in a political system, a country can go nowhere fast. Australia faces that risk. Most voters appear to vote for those who make announcements that make them feel good. They'd be better off voting for someone who can actually fix the problems. You would not want a plumber coming into your home making announcements on how he will fix all the pipes, only to leave prematurely with the pipes leaking.

[@1357Jason]

Yes, the issue of demagoguery is incredible pernicious and is an inherent flaw in democracy.

[@MrDokuritsu]

Jason Cheung I’m not advocating for no democracy, to be clear. Certainly do not want to go down the big brother China approach. But people need to wire their brains to focus more on people’s arguments rather than obsess with their political or other identity. That’s an easy cop out.

[@trentoncrisp]

I was hoping he may have spoke more about his time with Kerry Packer...

[@zel3888]

The cost of news production has not come down at all. The cost of substitutes for news have come down. Quality newsgathering, especially investigative journalism, is more expensive than ever. Hence the dearth of real journalism today. It's very sad, very dangerous, and we will very much regret letting journalism die at some point in the future.

[@notax1872]

The cost of news production has not come down at all. (FALSE). Quality newsgathering, especially investigative journalism, is more expensive than ever.(FALSE)

[@lesbrown1710]

Not a good example of a generous and faithfull human.

[@anEyePhil]

You won't find those people in politics, anywhere.

[@patrickratkinson2025]

I think that you are on the right track when you vie for a Republican Australia, so put it to the people again through a referendum, maybe this time it will go through and both you and I and so many other Australians will be able to celebrate the new Australia( Republic Of Australia).

[@IrateTurkey]

Australian Republicanism has declined massively since the 90's, it used to have majority support now its around 10 points behind.

[@GamerRateBot]

Mr. Turnbull's compromise about a same-sex marriage postal survey was seen domestically as an unnecessary sideshow, so that by the time that it passed, he received no credit for it. It was felt as though it became law despite his party's efforts, and since he was the leader of the party, despite him.

[@gortnewton4765]

This has been reposted, probably due to the huge number of negative comments.

[@jtbrosnan5481]

Best PM Australia has had in the last 10 years, easily

[@thomaselliott573]

He beat them all. Ineptitude, shallowness, no insight and one of the most decrepit, boring rsholes that ever walked the political landscape anywhere.

[@wolvAUS]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA good one

[@MrDokuritsu]

It's interesting how Malcolm talks about the antipathy in the US for Hillary Clinton. I think the same forces were against him in Australia. Rarely do I see a comment focusing on the details of his ideas, just on what they think of him as a person.

[@thomaselliott573]

@@MrDokuritsu hA hA what a doodle brain

[@jackoplays4758]

WHat policies of the Turnbull government do you think were beneficial for Australia?

[@patrickratkinson2025]

Mr. Turnbull, I have great respect for you my friend, and I keep wondering why you chose the Liberal party to exercise your right to represent people in your area, but since you chose to join the Liberals as a member when your own party turned against you, why didn't you question the legality of their actions? and why didn't you ask for a referendum on the Robodebt scheme when your party said that it was legal? and why didn't you ask them to take the vote to oust you from your office of Prime Minister to the people? it would have been more legal that way and at least you would know that it was the people's choice, not just your political party's choice, and there's one more thing that I would like to raise with you, and that the question of the PARTY SPILL, this is not only wrong but it goes against our constitution and our democratic way of life, and the party spill isn't in our constitution and is totally undemocratic. You of all people in Australia should know that what is written in our constitution is there because it was passed through our Parliamentary system made into law, but when something like a party spill can destroy a person's career and life and wasn't put to a referendum or put to the people for it to made legal, how can you still believe in the system that gutted your career and life?

[@Duxaization]

21:09

[@BT-kf4kx]

Australia is a great country, only most of the media like Skynew Australia is giving her a bad rep. Why do you think people are going to invest when there are confusion and you let skylie wild west running around with her cactus toy ?

[@gortnewton4765]

What's that in English?

[@beyondooflife40]

Yes he help australian so much by allowed 12 thousands syrian refugees into australia, reduced the penalty rates, increased all bills up 25%.

[@newellharry176]

Nice fake account champ. Coward.

[@kundaigotore992]

Boooooooooooooo

[@solveigsokcanic5724]

Poor Malcolm , still recovering from the dagger plunged into his back by Morrison !!! NO HONOUR & TRUST AMONGST CRIMINALS !

[@edneycelebrations2576]

It was Dutton's dagger

[@themoxcast]

@@edneycelebrations2576 maybe you should dig a little deeper, Dutton WAS the dagger, Morrison was the hand that drove it. Even the right of the Liberal party know that the electorate wouldn't vote for Dutton, he was not electable then and remains so now. Morrison manoeuvred to get rid of Turnbull and Bishop at a single stroke. If Dutton had real support, he'd be treasurer or, indeed, Prime Minister.

[@osazeeobaroghedo6493]

Scintillating

[@Anuanuanu520]

When will Oxford union have debate on indigenous people genocide in Australia ?

[@Wilantonjakov]

Still trying to stay relevant I see, Malcolm.

[@David-jw7km]

Old man rambling

[@gurugurumawaru7869]

Why are you interviewing this bollocks Oxford? You have better people to spend your resources on.