Malcolm Turnbull

The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull MP
Turnbull at Les Misérables premiere
Minister for Communications
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 September 2013
Prime Minister	Tony Abbott
Preceded by	Anthony Albanese
Shadow Minister for Communications
In office 14 September 2010 – 18 September 2013
Leader	Tony Abbott
Preceded by	Tony Smith
Succeeded by	Anthony Albanese
Leader of the Opposition
In office 16 September 2008 – 1 December 2009
Deputy	Julie Bishop
Preceded by	Brendan Nelson
Succeeded by	Tony Abbott
Leader of the Liberal Party
In office 16 September 2008 – 1 December 2009
Deputy	Julie Bishop
Preceded by	Brendan Nelson
Succeeded by	Tony Abbott
Shadow Treasurer of Australia
In office 3 December 2007 – 16 September 2008
Leader	Brendan Nelson
Preceded by	Wayne Swan
Succeeded by	Julie Bishop
Minister for the Environment and Water
In office 30 January 2007 – 3 December 2007
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	Ian Campbell
Succeeded by	Peter Garrett
Member of the Australian Parliament for Wentworth
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 October 2004
Preceded by	Peter King
Majority	14.86%
Personal details
Born	Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (1954-10-24) 24 October 1954 Sydney
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse(s)	Lucy Turnbull
Children	Alex and Daisy
Residence	Point Piper, New South Wales
Alma mater	University of Sydney Brasenose College, Oxford
Profession	Journalist, barrister, investment banker, venture capitalist
Religion	Roman Catholicism[1]
Website	MalcolmTurnbull.com.au

Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Wentworth in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs since 2004. He was the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Liberal Party from 2008 to 2009, and has been the Minister for Communications since 18 September 2013.^[2]

Turnbull was educated at Sydney Grammar School and the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. He then attended Brasenose College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law. Before entering politics, he worked as a journalist, lawyer, investment banker, and venture capitalist. In 1993, he became the Chairman of the Australian Republican Movement, a position he held until 2000.

In September 2008, Turnbull was elected Leader of the Liberal Party, becoming the Leader of the Opposition. In November 2009, he ordered the Liberal Party to support the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme proposed by the Labor Government. This decision split the Liberal Party, and following a leadership challenge by Tony Abbott on 1 December, Turnbull lost the leadership by one vote.

Early life

Malcolm Turnbull was born on 24 October 1954 to Bruce Bligh Turnbull and Coral Magnolia Lansbury,^[3] who married the following year.^[4] His father was a hotel broker; his mother was a radio actor, writer and academic and a cousin of the British film and television actor Angela Lansbury.^[5] They separated when Malcolm was nine, with Turnbull's mother leaving for first New Zealand and then the United States.^[6] Malcolm was then brought up by his father.^[7][8][9]

Education

Turnbull spent his first three years of school at Vaucluse Public School before he continued his primary education at the former Randwick campus^[6] of Sydney Grammar Prep.^[10][11] He then attended Sydney Grammar School's senior school at College Street in Sydney on a partial scholarship.^[12][6][11] He was senior school co-captain in 1972, as well as winning the Lawrence Campbell Oratory Competition.^{[citation needed]} Contrary to certain sources,^[12] although certainly a formidable student,^[13] particularly in the literary subjects such as English and history,^[6] Turnbull was not the dux of his graduating year at Sydney Grammar;^[14] instead, the dux of the class of 1972 was Prof. James Colebatch, the Head of Neurology at Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney.^[14] In 1987, in memory of his late father, he set up the Bruce Turnbull means-tested scholarship at Sydney Grammar, which offers full remission of fees to a student unable to afford them.^[11]

Turnbull matriculated to the University of Sydney in 1973, where he studied for a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and graduated with a B.A. in 1977 and an LL.B. in 1978.^[15][16] During his studies, he worked as a political journalist for Nation Review, Radio 2SM and Channel 9 covering state politics.^[17]

In 1978, Turnbull won the Rhodes Scholarship^[18] and matriculated to Brasenose College, University of Oxford, where he read for a Bachelor of Civil Law between 1978 and 1980. While at Oxford, he worked for The Sunday Times as well as contributing to newspapers and magazines in the United States and Australia.^[19]

Career

After graduating from Oxford, Turnbull returned to Australia and began working as a barrister. He left the bar in 1983 to become General Counsel and Secretary for Australian Consolidated Press Holdings Group, from 1983 to 1985. During this time he defended Kerry Packer against the "Goanna" allegations made by the Costigan Commission.

In partnership with Bruce McWilliam he established his own law firm, Turnbull McWilliam, in 1986. In that year Turnbull defended Peter Wright, a former MI5 agent, who authored the book Spycatcher, who successfully blocked the British Government's attempts to suppress the book's publication, and Turnbull later wrote a book on the trial.^[20] In 1987, he established an investment banking firm, Whitlam Turnbull & Co Ltd, in partnership with Neville Wran (former Labor Premier of New South Wales) and the former State Bank of New South Wales chief executive, Nicholas Whitlam (son of Gough Whitlam, former Labor Prime Minister of Australia). Whitlam parted company with the others in 1990, and, from then until 1997, when Turnbull moved to become a managing director and later a partner of Goldman Sachs, the firm operated as Turnbull & Partners Ltd.

Turnbull was also chair of a large Australia Internet Service Provider, OzEmail (1994–99), a director of FTR Holdings Ltd (1995–2004), chair and managing director of Goldman Sachs Australia (1997–2001) and a partner with Goldman Sachs and Co (1998–2001). In the 1990s, Turnbull was chairman of Axiom Forest Resources, which conducted logging in the Solomon Islands under the trading name Silvania Forest Products. The latter's work was described by the Australian International Development Aid Bureau as a "clear-felling operation", and the then Solomon Islands Prime Minister Solomon Mamaloni reportedly threatened to close it down for "constant breaches of logging practices", according to a critical article in the Solomon Times.^[21][22]

In 1999, Turnbull sold OzEmail to the then-telecommunications giant MCI Worldcom. Turnbull's stake was reportedly worth nearly A$60 million. In the same year he used his software and investment company FTR Holdings Ltd to take positions in a number of Internet businesses including Webcentral and Chaos.com.^[23]

In May 2002, Turnbull appeared before the HIH Insurance royal commission and was questioned on Goldman Sachs' involvement on the possible privatisation of one of the acquisitions of the collapsed insurance company. The Royal Commissioner's Report made no adverse findings against him or Goldman Sachs.^[24]

Political career

Australian Republican Movement

From 1993 to 2000, Turnbull was the chairman of the Australian Republican Movement. He was an elected delegate at the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 in Canberra in February.^[25] At the Convention, Turnbull cautioned against mixing the roles of President and Prime Minister and ultimately supported the Bi-partisan appointment republican model adopted by the Convention, despite the model having little popular support in the broad electorate. For this reason, he was later considered by many to have betrayed the Australian Republican Movement he claimed to support.^[26] Turnbull was active in the unsuccessful 1999 referendum campaign to establish an Australian republic. He published a book on the subject, called Fighting for the Republic. In 2000 Turnbull retired as chairman of the Australian Republican Movement. Turnbull left the board of Ausflag in 1994 after being asked for his resignation and in 2004 joined the Australian National Flag Association.^[27]

Early Liberal Party involvement

Turnbull was Federal Treasurer of the Liberal Party and a member of the party's federal and New South Wales executives from 2002 to 2003 and was also a director of the Menzies Research Centre, the Liberal Party's research centre.

Election to Parliament

Turnbull first showed interest in entering the Australian Parliament in 1981. He ran for Liberal Party preselection for the seat of Wentworth in the eastern suburbs of Sydney in the Wentworth 1981 by-election, but was beaten by Peter Coleman.^[7] He let his membership of the Liberal Party lapse in the 1980s, but rejoined in late 2000.^[28] In 2003, Turnbull announced that he was again seeking a parliamentary seat. In early 2004 he won another hotly contested battle for Wentworth, defeating Peter King, the sitting Liberal member. King ran for the seat at the 2004 election as an independent. This turned the traditionally safe Liberal electorate into an electoral wildcard, the contest for the seat becoming a three-man race between Turnbull, King and Labor candidate David Patch. During the campaign, Turnbull spent over $600,000 on electoral expenditure.^[29] The Liberal primary vote fell 10 per cent, but Turnbull still won on King's preferences.

Howard Government minister

Announcing his cabinet reshuffle on 24 January 2006, the Prime Minister John Howard promoted Turnbull from the backbench to Parliamentary Secretary, with special responsibility for water. In this new capacity he reported directly to the Prime Minister. On 26 September 2006, John Howard announced the creation, within the department of the Prime Minister, of the new "Office of Water Resources" to address the problem of drought in Australia. Turnbull was in charge of this office until he was elevated by Prime Minister John Howard to head the Environment and Water Resources portfolio in January 2007.

In his position as Environment Minister, Turnbull approved a proposed $1.7 billion Bell Bay Pulp Mill in Tasmania's north, near Launceston.^[30] His final approval of the Bell Bay Pulp Mill project of Gunns Ltd came on 4 October 2007. Turnbull's approval followed a report by the Government's chief scientist Jim Peacock on the project's potential environmental impact, which requires the project to meet 48 "strict environmental" conditions.

In February 2007, Turnbull was criticised for claiming a government allowance of $175 a night and paying it to his wife as rent while living in a townhouse owned by her in Canberra.^[31]

During the 2007 election campaign, Turnbull announced that the then Government would contribute $10 million to the investigation of an untried Russian technology that aims to trigger rainfall from the atmosphere, even when there are no clouds. Literature suggests that the technology is based on bogus science.^{[citation needed]} The Australian Rain Corporation presented research documents written in Russian, explained by a Russian researcher who spoke to local experts in Russian.^[32]

Although Turnbull claimed that Australian Rain Corporation is Australian-based, investigations have shown that it is in fact 75 per cent Swiss-owned. It was also revealed that a prominent stakeholder in the Australian Rain Corporation, Matt Handbury, is a nephew of Rupert Murdoch. Turnbull has refused to answer questions regarding Matt Handbury's contribution to the Wentworth Forum, the main fund-raising organisation for Turnbull's 2007 election campaign.^[32]

In 2007, Turnbull promised that his government, if elected, would grant same-sex couples death benefits in Commonwealth superannuation schemes, a promise similar to one made three years earlier, during the 2004 Federal election campaign.^[33]

Opposition

Turnbull retained his seat at the 2007 election gaining a two-party 1.3 per cent swing in Wentworth,^[34] despite a 5.6 per cent swing away from the coalition in the state, and a 5.4 per cent swing nationwide.^[35]

Prime Minister Howard had lost his own seat of Bennelong, and on 25 November 2007, Liberal deputy leader Peter Costello announced he would not seek the party leadership. Turnbull declared his candidacy later the same day, and was considered a favourite by many.^[36] He lost to Brendan Nelson, in a 45 to 42 vote.

Nelson in turn appointed him Shadow Treasurer.^[37]

Shortly afterwards, fellow Opposition front bencher Nick Minchin suggested that Turnbull's failure to consult with party colleagues before declaring his opinion to the media on such issues as an apology to the Stolen Generations cost him the leadership.^[38] This led to a disagreement between the two and culminated in Minchin privately telling Turnbull that he was "too f***ing sensitive".^[39]

In May 2008, Turnbull attacked the 2008 Australian federal budget, concerned by increased taxes on luxury cars and certain alcoholic drinks, citing possible increased inflation.^[40]

Leader of the Opposition

On 16 September 2008, Turnbull was elected party leader by 45 votes to 41.

In September 2008, Turnbull confessed that he had smoked marijuana in his younger days, becoming the first Liberal leader to make such an admission. He said he now thought it was a very bad idea because the drug could be damaging.^[41]

In January 2009, Turnbull appointed former Alexander Downer staffer and Advertiser journalist Chris Kenny as his chief of staff.^[42]

In May 2009, Turnbull attacked the 2009 Australian federal budget, in particular the means testing of the private health insurance rebate.^[43]

On 19 June 2009 Treasury official Godwin Grech alleged that a car dealer with links to the Labor Party had received preferential treatment under the Ozcar program, sparking the so-called 'OzCar affair'. That day Turnbull stated that Prime Minister Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan had "used their offices and taxpayers' resources to seek advantage for one of their mates and then lied about it to the Parliament" and that they needed to explain their actions or resign.^[44] On 22 June the e-mail Grech had provided to the Liberal Party to support this allegation was found to have been faked by Grech, something he later admitted,^[45] and an Australian National Audit Office inquiry cleared both Rudd and Swan of any wrongdoing on 4 August.^[46] Turnbull's handling of the OzCar affair led to a large decline in his and the Liberal Party's approval ratings in opinion polls.^[47]

On 24 November 2009 a party room meeting was held to discuss the Rudd government's proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS). Turnbull instructed the party to support CPRS despite significant disagreement among his colleagues.^[48]

There was even a suggestion that some Liberal Senators should vote to "guillotine" debate and force an immediate Senate vote on the CPRS bill. (If the Senate rejected the bill, this would have given the government a double dissolution trigger.)

In response the next day, MPs Wilson Tuckey and Dennis Jensen made a "spill motion" (for a party leadership vote), but it was defeated by 48 votes to 35.^[49] The rebellion continued, though — many front bench Liberals resigned from the shadow cabinet, including Tony Abbott.^[50]

On 1 December 2009, a spill motion was carried. Turnbull lost the subsequent leadership ballot to Abbott by 42 votes to 41 on the second ballot.^[51]

Post-leadership

After the leadership vote, Turnbull said he would serve out his full term as member for Wentworth.^[52] On 6 April 2010, he announced he would not seek re-election.^[53] However, on 1 May 2010 he reversed his decision.^[54]

At the 2010 federal election, Turnbull was re-elected with a swing of over 11%^[55] and was subsequently brought back to the front bench as shadow communications minister.^[56] At the October 2012 Alfred Deakin Lecture on digital liberty^[57] he spoke out strongly against the Australian government's proposed two-year data retention law.^[58]

In July 2012, Turnbull was under fire for saying that civil unions should be accepted as a first step towards full same-sex marriage rights. Turnbull also supports gay marriage and a conscience vote for Coalition MP's on the issue, but Coalition leader Tony Abbott did not allow a conscience vote on the issue. He said that countries that have legalised gay marriage such as The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Norway, and Canada first had civil unions.^[59]

Broadband

On Tuesday 9 April 2013 Malcolm Turnbull along with Tony Abbott announced his alternative National Broadband Network (NBN) plan.^[60] The new plan is a modified and scaled-down NBN with "fibre to the node" then last-mile by copper cable.^[61] The new policy developed by Turnbull reversed the previous Liberal Party position, which had called for the dismantling of the NBN should the Liberal Party win the 2013 Federal election. As such, the policy will allow the NBN to continue irrespective of the result so the election, although it may do so in a different form from what is currently being built.^[61]

Writing

Turnbull has written several books in relation to his contributions to the republican debate, as well as his experiences during the Spycatcher trial. Notable examples of his writings include: The Spycatcher Trial (1988); The Reluctant Republic (1993; foreword by Robert Hughes, his wife's uncle); and Fighting for the Republic: the Ultimate Insider's Account (1999).

Personal life

Turnbull is a supporter of the Sydney Roosters rugby league team in the Australian National Rugby League, and the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League.^[62]

In 1994, a portrait of Turnbull by artist Bill Leak won the People's Choice award at the Archibald Prize.^{[citation needed]}

Family

Turnbull is married to prominent businesswoman and former Lord Mayor of Sydney Lucy Turnbull. They were married on 22 March 1980 at Cumnor, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom near Oxford by a Church of England priest while Malcolm was attending the University of Oxford.^[63] They and their two children, Alex and Daisy, live in Sydney.^[64]

The use of Bligh as a male middle name is a tradition in the Turnbull family. It is Turnbull's middle name as well as that of his son, Alex. One of Turnbull's ancestors was colonist John Turnbull, who named his youngest son William Bligh Turnbull in honour of deposed Governor William Bligh at the time of the Rum Rebellion.^[65]

Turnbull and wife Lucy became grandparents in September 2013, when his daughter Daisy gave birth to a boy naming him Jack Alexander Turnbull-Brown. Turnbull announced the safe arrival on Twitter.^[66]

Religion

Although Turnbull is a convert to Roman Catholicism from Presbyterianism,^[63] he has found himself at odds with the church's teaching on abortion, stem cell research and same-sex marriage.^[67][68][69] Turnbull supported legislation relaxing restrictions on abortion pill RU486 and he also voted for the legalisation of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (therapeutic cloning). He did so despite the vocal public opposition to both proposals by Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney.

Personal wealth

In 2005, Turnbull's net worth was estimated at $133 million,^[70] making him Australia's richest parliamentarian^[71] until the election of billionaire Clive Palmer in the 2013 elections.^[72][73]

The 2009 annual BRW list of the richest Australians (the BRW Rich 200) put Turnbull at 182 of 200, with an estimated net worth of $178 million. He is the only MP in Australia to make the list.^[74] Malcolm Turnbull made the BRW Rich 200 list for the second year running in 2010, and although he slipped from 182 to 197, his estimated net worth increased to $186 million, and he continued to be the only sitting politician to make the list.^[75]

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malcolm Turnbull.

• Official website
• Parliamentary profile

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Peter King	Member of Parliament for Wentworth 2004–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Ian Campbell	Minister for the Environment and Water 2007	Succeeded by Peter Garrett
Preceded by Wayne Swan	Shadow Treasurer of Australia 2007–2008	Succeeded by Julie Bishop
Preceded by Brendan Nelson	Leader of the Opposition 2008–2009	Succeeded by Tony Abbott
Preceded by Tony Smith	Shadow Minister for Communications 2010–2013	Succeeded by Anthony Albanese
Preceded by Anthony Albanese	Minister for Communications 2013–present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Brendan Nelson	Leader of the Liberal Party 2008–2009	Succeeded by Tony Abbott
Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Thomas Keneally	Chairman of the Australian Republican Movement 1993–2000	Succeeded by Ian Chappell

v t e Liberal Party of Australia Leaders Robert Menzies Harold Holt John Gorton William McMahon Billy Snedden Malcolm Fraser Andrew Peacock John Howard Andrew Peacock John Hewson Alexander Downer John Howard Brendan Nelson Malcolm Turnbull Tony Abbott Deputy leaders Eric Harrison Harold Holt William McMahon John Gorton Billy Snedden Phillip Lynch John Howard Neil Brown Andrew Peacock Fred Chaney Peter Reith Michael Wooldridge Peter Costello Julie Bishop Ministries Menzies 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Holt 1 2 Gorton 1 2 McMahon Fraser 1 2 3 4 Howard 1 2 3 4 Abbott Shadow cabinets Downer Nelson Turnbull Abbott Leadership contests 2007 2008 2009 Organizations Coalition (Liberal National Party National Party of Australia Country Liberal Party) Young Liberals (WA) Ginger Group Lyons Forum Menzies Research Centre History Protectionist Party Free Trade Party Commonwealth Liberal Party National Labor Party Nationalist Party of Australia Liberal Union Australian Party United Australia Party The Forgotten People

v t e Leaders of the Liberal Party of Australia Menzies Holt Gorton McMahon Snedden Fraser Peacock Howard Peacock Hewson Downer Howard Nelson Turnbull Abbott

v t e Current members of the Australian House of Representatives from New South Wales Labor (17) Anthony Albanese Sharon Bird Chris Bowen Tony Burke Jason Clare Sharon Claydon Pat Conroy Justine Elliot Laurie Ferguson Joel Fitzgibbon Chris Hayes Ed Husic Stephen Jones Julie Owens Tanya Plibersek Michelle Rowland Matt Thistlethwaite Liberal (22) Tony Abbott John Alexander Bob Baldwin Bronwyn Bishop David Coleman Paul Fletcher Alex Hawke Peter Hendy Joe Hockey Craig Kelly Sussan Ley Louise Markus Russell Matheson Karen McNamara Scott Morrison Philip Ruddock Fiona Scott Ann Sudmalis Angus Taylor Malcolm Turnbull Nickolas Varvaris Lucy Wicks Nationals (7) John Cobb Mark Coulton David Gillespie Luke Hartsuyker Kevin Hogan Barnaby Joyce Michael McCormack

v t e Current members of the Cabinet of Australia Tony Abbott Eric Abetz Kevin Andrews Bruce Billson Julie Bishop George Brandis Mathias Cormann Peter Dutton Joe Hockey Greg Hunt David Johnston Barnaby Joyce Ian Macfarlane Scott Morrison Christopher Pyne Andrew Robb Nigel Scullion Warren Truss Malcolm Turnbull

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Authority control WorldCat VIAF: 1553625 LCCN: n88053591 ISNI: 0000 0000 8192 7676

Persondata
Name	Turnbull, Malcolm Bligh
Alternative names
Short description	Australian politician
Date of birth	24 October 1954
Place of birth	Sydney
Date of death
Place of death