A Bigger Picture by Malcolm Turnbull

Apr 19, 2020 Nat K marked it as to-read

Reading this might cheer me up.

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May 17, 2020 Esther King rated it it was ok

Going into a politician's autobiography expecting honesty is like going into a hardware store and asking for a loaf of bread, I know. But truly, this revisionist, blindingly false series of events was something special. How many people did the 'triumph' of the same-sex marriage survey kill? How many refugees died under the 'caring' hand of Dutton and his offshore policy while you type that he 'really cared about the mental health and wellbeing' of them? How many people in remote Australian towns Going into a politician's autobiography expecting honesty is like going into a hardware store and asking for a loaf of bread, I know. But truly, this revisionist, blindingly false series of events was something special. How many people did the 'triumph' of the same-sex marriage survey kill? How many refugees died under the 'caring' hand of Dutton and his offshore policy while you type that he 'really cared about the mental health and wellbeing' of them? How many people in remote Australian towns now have little to no access to the internet due to the failed NBN that you describe as 'a victory'? How many people under the cashless welfare card have lost all hope of being able to afford even basic goods at stores that the government hasn't cut a deal with? How can you pass off what you did for Kerry Packer as even remotely legitimate when even Mr Magoo could see that it was blatant tax fraud? How much money have you got in that offshored Panama Papers bank account, Malcolm?

Those were the questions I wanted you to answer, and yet I received little to nothing about those matters. However, I was treated to a 700-page love-fest about how great your party is, how 'progressive' you were, how much you felt as though the right-wing of your party had spoilt the milk a little (to be fair, the party were already well spoiled before your time). The Australian Liberal Party doesn't come up looking like a jewel in the crown after reading this-in fact, it comes up as looking like a party of liars, backstabbers, and truth-twisters, which, funnily enough, it rather seems to be.

And it is a shame, it genuinely is. I really would have expected a little better. You don't have a job to toe the party line anymore, let alone sell it. This could have been an opportunity to hold firm and let loose on those who did undermine whatever progressive ideas you had for the party, and to own up genuinely to more mistakes than the bloody s44 scandal (which, to be fair, caught everyone out in parliament and is a little contrived in and of itself). I suppose that brings us to the crux of the issue- of the revolving door of Liberal PM's we've had over the course of the last 7 months (more like eight years but you change every five minutes), you were probably the best of them. It's just a shame you couldn't own up to the things that would have made the public respect you just that little bit more post-office.

I did appreciate some facets of the book- the bond of Turnbull's family, the way in which it lifted the curtain (ever so slightly) on the backroom of politics, and the campaign trail as we see it in Australia. It is, in that sense, thoroughly educational and rather nice to read. Credit, where it is due, is also accorded to Turnbull's clarity and writing style- this is not a dense book and lends itself to being rather readable at times, which is nice.

As a postscript, I will never recover from Peter Dutton being hailed as remarkably empathetic, Donald Trump being cast as an 'effective businessman', nor from the fact that there was a very energetic focus on the Labor spills being of some note and causing incredible destabilisation in the party, but no attention paid to the fact that your party did precisely the same and then some. It's time to get off the high horse and plant your feet firmly on the ground. Then, perhaps, I'll be a little more receptive to what you have to say. ...more

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Apr 26, 2020 Ed rated it it was amazing

This book is a pretty comprehensive memoir of his life, from primary school to the bushfires in January. Much of the book focuses on his time in govt, and provides some excuses and background analysis as to why he couldn't achieve some of the things he wanted due to the far right in his party.
Much of his analysis of his own party could be put down to gossip, especially since there aren't many occasions where he is genuinely self-critical, but it is an interesting read nonetheless. His view of hi ...more

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Apr 24, 2020 Gavan Huang marked it as to-read

Tried to read the PDF of the book but my internet speeds can’t cope with downloading it :(

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Apr 29, 2020 David Brown rated it liked it

When Turnbull is describing events or other character this book is excellent but when he gets to his favourite subject, himself, it bogs down and becomes very self serving. There is a good reason to buy political books written by journalists. They are not trying to justify themselves.

Malcolm is still self delusional. He cannot see that the NBN was a great opportunity wasted. He thinks that the welfare card imposed on aboriginals was doing for them not to them. Everything that went wrong was eit ...more

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May 25, 2020 Mathew Knight rated it really liked it

Putting Malcolm's ego aside for a second, the book is a 10/10 walkthrough of all the major events in Australian politics since the mid 2000s, written from an extremely fair, rational, and centrist viewpoint.
But the book certainly does revolve around Malcolm. There is plenty of trash talk and sniping about those who betrayed him, and plenty of juice on the weirdos of auspol (looking at you George Christensen). The upside of it being from Malcolm's perspective is that I'm genuinely convinced he wa ...more

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May 04, 2020 Kolumbina rated it really liked it

What a big book and a heavy book, physically heavy book, a bit more than 700 pages. Must be a very hard work to write such a huge book. I would recommend an e-copy of the book, much easier to handle.
Well an excellent biography, really well written. Malcolm Turnbull is a talented and a smart writer (Rhodes scholar) and he could easily live from his writing. And he did as a younger fellow. I don't really believe in everything he wrote, a very happy marriage (who has a happy marriage these days, es ...more

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May 19, 2020 Mitchell rated it really liked it

Engaging, well written, often amusing, and thoroughly interesting. This memoir is more than a recount of quite an incredible life, it is the author’s confident defence of his public record. Much of it is arguable, but that’s the point.

Well worth the time of anybody with an interest in Australian politics.

Insufferable bores and ideologues who dismiss this book without having read it should be ignored.

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May 03, 2020 Benjamin Farr rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2020, australian-politics

2½ stars

Much like the man who was responsible for this reprehensibly repugnant government, this is a book that ultimately disappoints.

Where was the commentary about what he put refugees through (and for what?), or admission about the number of suicides he caused by forcing the non-compulsory postal survey upon LGBTQI people? Where does he talk about the scandalous behaviour of many of the ministers he stood by and defended (Cash, Angus Taylor, Morrison, Dutton, Brandis...), or the RoboDebt fias ...more

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Apr 25, 2020 Wayne Saunders rated it it was amazing

Well written, entertaining, and look behind the scenes of government, some people I can understand not liking the book, but I found it very interesting

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May 01, 2020 Hannah Stern rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book! I highly recommend it for anyone interested in Australian history and politics. It gives an in depth insight into navigating the transition into politics, Canberra, politicians, complex party room dynamics, and getting seemingly unpopular legislation across the line (or in Turnbull's case not). It also gives quite a good account into what would make a socially left person want to join and lead the liberal party. We forget what the liberal party once was, that being id ...more

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May 02, 2020 Thoraiya rated it liked it

I finished Turnbull's autobiography. It is approximately 5x more self-congratulatory and name-droppy than Gillard's, the only other ex-PM's autobiography that I have read. Also he has some huge blind spots of obliviousness in his life experience. Reading the multiple burns to Dutton, Morrison, Abbott, Packer, Trump and Murdoch was less satisfying than I thought when I got to the end and he was all, "in conclusion, I haven't done enough to save the planet and we're all gonna burn."

Yeah. That.

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May 07, 2020 Alan Bevan rated it really liked it

I rated this 4 stars because of my interest in the content rather than any particular literary merit the book may have. But then, I don't think Malcolm Turnbull set out to write a literary masterpiece.

What fascinated me most in this book is how we all can see the world through our own lens. Turnbull describes the right of the Coalition with searing accuracy - homophobic, sexist, climate change denialists, racist dog-whistlers. It is clear that his biggest opposition was from within his own party I rated this 4 stars because of my interest in the content rather than any particular literary merit the book may have. But then, I don't think Malcolm Turnbull set out to write a literary masterpiece.

What fascinated me most in this book is how we all can see the world through our own lens. Turnbull describes the right of the Coalition with searing accuracy - homophobic, sexist, climate change denialists, racist dog-whistlers. It is clear that his biggest opposition was from within his own party and that the distance between him and the views of the right within his own party was a far greater gulf than any ideological difference with the opposition. In fact he articulates no particular objections to the values of the Labour party - other than anger at the 'Mediscare' lie. But we are left in no doubt as to his repugnance at the values held by many within his own party.

Given this, it is interesting to reflect on why he stayed as leader of that party and a member of it. Do all politicians put party loyalty as more important than their professed values? Did Turnbull stay within the ranks of a party he sat so uncomfortably with because it gave him the opportunity to hold the nation's most powerful job? If so, how sad it is that principles can be sold in such a manner. How sad that politicians don't vote on the basis of their personal judgment, rather as they are directed by their party membership.

The book is a defence of Turnbull's leadership. However, he fails to acknowledge that he voted to remove Australia's price on carbon, he voted against the Malaysian solution for dealing with boat immigrants (because it might work and therefore was contrary to the Coalition's election strategy). He said nothing (publicly at least) when Morrison brought a lump of coal into parliament. He refused to accept Labour's support to pass the National Energy Guarantee, putting his political interest ahead of the climate.

Despite these decisions, he defends his government, emphasising achievements against the gale force opposition within his own party - his 'delcons' (deluded conservatives). It is extraordinarily sad that he failed to stand up to the delcons and often compromised his values by trying to accommodate them.

It is also sad that we have no true 'liberal' party in this country. Perhaps he would have better spent his time and his personal political capital trying to create one. ...more

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May 12, 2020 Richard Gray rated it liked it

Has it really only been less than two years since Turnbull departed office? It was August 2018 that Scotty from Marketing took the party leadership and what an interesting 20 months that has been!

Let's get the political elephant in the room out of the way. I'm not here to start a political discourse in the comments section, but one is unavoidable when examining the autobiography of a self-described "moderate conservative." Indeed, my personal politics definitely lean in the opposite direction to Has it really only been less than two years since Turnbull departed office? It was August 2018 that Scotty from Marketing took the party leadership and what an interesting 20 months that has been!

Let's get the political elephant in the room out of the way. I'm not here to start a political discourse in the comments section, but one is unavoidable when examining the autobiography of a self-described "moderate conservative." Indeed, my personal politics definitely lean in the opposite direction to Australia's Liberal Party, but are more Green variety than Labor. Yet here I am reading a bio of a Liberally polly. Who woulda thunk it?

His early years are probably the most fascinating because we learn of his business dealings and the founding of Ozemail, the way Australians first learned about getting online with a pre-packaged disc if memory serves. It's also the sections where I have the least opinion on and aren't so fresh in our collective memories, so it's harder to dispute anything there.

There was always a promise that Turnbull was going to cross the bipartisan divide and bridge some of those irreconcilable gaps between the left and the extreme right. Bring climate change to the fore and change the way that...

...oh, who am I kidding?!? I turned up for the spilling of the T and all the shade that comes with it! Referring to the "Lunactic Abbott agenda" and equating the "Toxic alliance of the right" with terrorism! Trump gets a serving as well, particularly in light of the infamous international phone call they exchanged early in his presidency.

Yet there isn't a single moment, save for a few retrospective remarks in the conclusion (written around the time of the 2020 bushfires), where Turnbull takes any personal responsibility for wrongdoings. He would take all the credit for the Marriage Equality victory, but not the culpability of the toxic public discourse the non-binding national survey created. That, like many of the issues raised, he would argue are "inherited" problems from the leadership he briefly grabbed.

Indeed, one has to take this book with a few grains of salt. If you take it as gospel, then the entirety of Turnbull's career was spend patiently (and some might argue condescendingly) explaining rational points of view to the uninformed. Still, hearing even a moderately rational voice from a politician in 2020 feels like such a novelty that there's a perverted appeal to the whole thing. ...more

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May 07, 2020 Mrs.J.Richmond rated it liked it · review of another edition

A Bigger Picture

Monday, 4 May 2020
2:49 PM

When you are reviewing a book by someone as important and yet controversial as Malcolm Turnbull it is difficult to separate the man from the work. I am writing this as a review of the book, not a critique of his prime ministership
In my view this book is difficult to read; it is not a page turner. Mr. Turnbull writes well. I suspect he does everything well and I suspect he may agree with me. He is certainly a very capable, erudite man who makes us mere mo A Bigger Picture

Monday, 4 May 2020
2:49 PM

When you are reviewing a book by someone as important and yet controversial as Malcolm Turnbull it is difficult to separate the man from the work. I am writing this as a review of the book, not a critique of his prime ministership
In my view this book is difficult to read; it is not a page turner. Mr. Turnbull writes well. I suspect he does everything well and I suspect he may agree with me. He is certainly a very capable, erudite man who makes us mere mortals look a bit inferior.
The book opens with a description of Turnbull's early years. It is written in a style which hides the pain he must have experienced as a child abandoned by his mother and raised by his father with no siblings. Instead Turnbull goes to some lengths to drop as many names as possible so we accept his rationalisation that his mother wasn't so bad after all.
The following part of the book details Turnbull's not inconsiderable efforts to make a fortune and a name for himself; the latter given a big boost by his defence of the former spy Peter Wright's Spycatcher case. Turnbull was also destined to be a high achiever, despite or perhaps because of his childhood.
A common theme running through the book is his love of family especially his wife Lucy, daughter Daisy and his father Bruce. He dotes on his grandchildren; there are many mentions of his family in the book. They do add a human touch to a fairly dry tome.
Once Turnbull moves into politics his observations can be quite scathing. He keeps his best remarks for his nemesis, Tony Abbott who preceded him as prime minister. In fact I would argue that nowhere does he show as much passion.
The last half of the book describes his time as prime minister. I'm afraid by this stage I had to skip to the penultimate chapter. I was weary of all the encyclopedic detail. The last two chapters are certainly the most salacious, but I think he saved his best for last, The Conclusion. I felt here was Turnbull the man talking, not the lawyer or banker or politician.
When Turnbull became a government minister he observed to himself that he needed to look at the bigger picture instead of the minutea he had been used to doing all his life; hence the book title. Personally I think his book is an overload of minutea. He spends a lot of trying to convince us of how important his legacy is, and maybe he is right. Unfortunately I found the overwhelming amount of detail prevented me from seeing the big picture. ...more

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May 10, 2020 Anthony O'Connor rated it liked it

Long and detailed. Its an autobiography so that the author comes off smelling like roses. Or so he seems to think. It is in fact to a large extant whining and petulant. He is right about everything, every single little thing and his opponents are not just wrong but immoral tricksters. All of them. Yeah sure. He probably shouldn't have mentioned being caught shuffling money off to Caymen Island tax havens. He asserts that it was not illegal. (and strictly speaking that's true.) But he just couldn Long and detailed. Its an autobiography so that the author comes off smelling like roses. Or so he seems to think. It is in fact to a large extant whining and petulant. He is right about everything, every single little thing and his opponents are not just wrong but immoral tricksters. All of them. Yeah sure. He probably shouldn't have mentioned being caught shuffling money off to Caymen Island tax havens. He asserts that it was not illegal. (and strictly speaking that's true.) But he just couldn't let it go. I did nothing wrong. Yeah right. I didn't know that he started his career as a lawyer for alleged criminals and a functionary for super predatory organizations such as Goldman Sachs. But yeah.
Of course what interests all of is the toppling of the prime ministers. In just a few years Australia watched four sitting prime ministers get knifed in the back by their colleagues and thrown out. In this country the people elect their parliamentary representatives. Then they elect, by party, the prime minister. And they can change their mind at any time. Turnbull was the knifer in one of these cases and the 'knifee' in a later one. He gives a good thorough account. Of course all of the others were vicious, purely political and completely unprincipled. Only his knifing was righteous and just. Yeah sure. Given who he took out (Tony Abbott) I will at least agree it was necessary.
When they finally in turn tossed him to the curb he retired. Job well done. Yeah right.
He does deserve credit for taking a principled stand on allowing Same Sex Marriage and on acting on Climate Change one of the very few members of our ultra conservative (so called liberal) party to do so. Of course that's part of the reason that they tossed him overboard. So not all conservative ultra-rich nobs are completely blinkered, just most of them.
Overall a good enough book. Lots of detail. Very thorough. Worth a read. But don't necessarily believe what he's telling you. All politicians lie to some extant. You have to gauge just how much.

...more

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May 10, 2020 Rebecca Mary rated it really liked it

Ooh this was a hard slog at times! I feel as though this is one big love letter from Malcolm to Malcolm (and for his grandchildren - that are mentioned nonstop! - to read on the future). But, it is interesting to see how a former poli can transform so quickly from PM to bitter, resentful former PM and how he tries to bring others down with him!

Moral of the story - Everything was supposedly Abbott’s fault!

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Apr 29, 2020 Mark rated it it was amazing

A cracking read in the main. Gets in to policy wonk territory in some parts but in the main it is a very entertaining read.

A tad self-congratulatory in parts but not overly so.

I bet it has set some teeth grinding.

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May 05, 2020 Jaysa rated it it was ok

Have read a few chapters but left this for an Iranian novel- this is more like a textbook that can be put down and picked up without a lack of continuity. Loved the family history section. Hated the finance section. Rating may change as I plough through the 700 or so pages...

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May 30, 2020 David Cox rated it liked it

This book is well written and engaging as far as political biographies go. It also offers an interesting insight into the different personal challenges and relationships inside a political party and the division that comes between different factions. It's also fun to hear Turnbull saying something negative about Abbott pretty much every time he's mentioned. I enjoyed the anecdotes and personal aspect to it

However, it's also deeply partisan. That's to be expected as it's a political biography but This book is well written and engaging as far as political biographies go. It also offers an interesting insight into the different personal challenges and relationships inside a political party and the division that comes between different factions. It's also fun to hear Turnbull saying something negative about Abbott pretty much every time he's mentioned. I enjoyed the anecdotes and personal aspect to it

However, it's also deeply partisan. That's to be expected as it's a political biography but it does become frustrating when you know about the subjects he's discussing and is deliberately misrepresenting. To begin with its not immediately obvious because it's his personal life and pre-politics business dealings. Turnbull writes in a decently personal style and isn't too boring details heavy for technical things. But when we get to the chapter on the NBN it becomes very obvious that he is out to shape how his political legacy is being remembered, even at the expense of facts. He even has experience in the private sector for ISP's and says that data rates have increased over a thousand times since the 90s and yet thinks that Labor's promise of faster internet is absurd and argues that consumers don't need it and won't pay for it and so therefore his quite deliberately slower NBN is more than sufficient. He also then praises the CEO Bill Morrow for his excellent work and real world expertise being brought to the position.

He doesn't at all admit that he's implied in his own book that he hasn't future proofed the NBN. In fact he hasn't even modern-proofed it and has no mention of the budget blowouts that led to the more "cost effective" Liberal NBN plan ended up costing more than Labor's original estimate for their plan, he doesn't mention how it ended up being slower than promised (so an already non-future proofed deliberately slow speed has underdelivered leading to even slower speeds), or how Morrow blamed gamers for congestion and suggested throttling the bandwidth of heavy users. He has nothing but high praise for a CEO of an infrastructure project that fundamentally doesn't understand the workings of or necessity for that infrastructure project! Ultimately Morrow resigned after failing to deliver the already underwhelming project he promised. None of this is mentioned. To take only Turnbull's account into it he appears to have saved Australia from an unbelievable wreck of Labor mismanagement and elevated it to a heroic height and unassailable success.

Furthermore, he seems desperate to defend his own colleagues even from his own criticism. He tries his best to paint complex pictures of people he disagrees with within his own party (except Abbott and Dutton, the fanatical wreckers with no self awareness or competency to lead), and even points out that Morrison would deliberately leak ideas to the press before they'd been put to or confirmed by the cabinet. While Abbott is admonished for this, Turnbull somehow stresses there's some subtle distinction for Morrison's very similar behaviour. Abbott is a wrecker and a bully whereas Morrison is a clever marketing man going out on a limb to (admittedly foolishly) beta-test ideas by seeing how well they rate on the front page. It feels like he's trying his best to bend backwards and defend then incumbent of a party that betrayed him, despite fact that he repeatedly points out Morrison doesn't stand for anything. Not just that he stands against the very things that Turnbull holds dearest (climate action and same sex marriage - something Morrison was keen to sabotage and stop) but Morrison is described as being simply indifferent to basically any position unless it helps his own self interests of elevating status. The only exception to Morrison's spineless need to be liked is same sex marriage, which he despises with an energetic passion not applied to anything else.

So, despite clearly having someone he describes as a subtle, manipulative, control freak, who is underhanded, deeply homophobic, a climate denier, unprincipled, and a wrecker who worked for the downfall of his government for his own personal gain... we get a stronger defence for Morrison's character and worth as a person than we do Bill Shorten. Shorten, and Labor at large, is treated with no such complexity and analysis and anything they do is instantly dismissed as populist baiting and political tactics to tear down what Turnbull believes to be perfectly reasonable policy. For example: Labor said that we shouldn't have a plebiscite on marriage equality because it'd be destructive and harmful to the LGBT+ community. Turnbull doesn't believe they're capable of such emotional sincerity or concern for the public and so says they were using that simply as an excuse to be uncooperative. His assertions he's actually very concerned about the welfare of others comes off as poorly written.

He then barely mentions in passing the pain and suffering the postal survey debate on marriage equality caused. He gives a brief anecdote about a personal friend that is barely consequential but asserts (completely incorrectly) that he thought Australians would have a reasonable and relaxed debate. He offers no apology and only the mildest of regrets that there was "some hurt" that he would've done anything to avoid (except of course: a free vote, which he spends ages defending why he couldn't. The actual campaign gets very little time, the chapter is almost entirely his personal struggle to get to the postal survey starting). He criticises Labor for calling him out of touch and then cherry picks the one example he can think of where he introduced some means testing to a subsidy (I think it was childcare related) that would leave wealthy people less well off (ever so slightly). Yet his own analysis of his policies and the impacts are always discussed through the lens of his own personal conflicts and journey to convince cabinet/parliament to legislate them. When he mentions floating the idea of raising GST to 15% he frames it as a logical debate about mixed tax switches and searching for a concrete economic benefit. Without any other context he appears to be justifying a detailed and professional search for evidence of how he can benefit the nation and only after 8 pages briefly mentions in one paragraph in cold language discussing "the lower quintile" of income earns does he mention it would see poor people worse off (because it's an unavoidable and regressive consumption tax. The idea is to make sure you can't avoid it).

He has no mention of the robodebt scandal, he mentions a desire to help refugees but only through the lens of blaming Labor for "weak border policies" (no defence of the issues of human rights violations, deaths, or lack of medical care under his time in office), and although in his conclusion he says "I made many mistakes" he is reticent to mention any.

The biggest thing though is he concludes that the Liberals and Nationals are just climate deniers. He wants everyone to think he tried his hardest and perhaps he did. His time as leader of the Liberal party ended in 2009 because of his desire to see climate action, and says the same about his fall from being the PM. It should come as no surprise that he failed to make a difference in the fervent wrecklessness of the climate denier party (he likens it to a religious belief - unshakeable). Hopefully this book is read by Liberal/National voters and they realise just how broken their party is and incapable of addressing climate change seriously. That is perhaps the most accurate part of the book. His honest admission that, no matter how hard he tried over a decade, the Coalition will not be brought round to reason and is beholden to the coal lobby as well as the right wing propaganda machine of News Corp (what a surprise a Liberal PM and I agree on something).

This is an interesting book if you're after a look into the inner workings of how a politician seeks to get things done. It's not a good book if you want an honest examination of Turnbull's activities in office. That's to be expected and at times it's fine but others it's frustratingly biased to the point of being deliberately exclusionary and just wrong. That should always be kept in the forefront of anyone's mind when reading a book like this.

I'd love to be able to contrast it with an outsider's take on the Turnbull government but we'll just have to wait before some journalist gets round to it. ...more

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May 12, 2020 Benjamin rated it liked it

I've always liked Malcolm Turnbull as a person and thought he was a statesman as PM. However, I simply have to dock a few stars for the lies by omission and mistruths he puts in some of the policy explanations.

He's honest about colleagues and most backroom discussions within his party, writes well, and comes across as a warm person, although things like the entire explanation of his time as a lawyer for Kerry Packer (dodgy stuff on tax avoidance no matter how he spins it, and especially getting I've always liked Malcolm Turnbull as a person and thought he was a statesman as PM. However, I simply have to dock a few stars for the lies by omission and mistruths he puts in some of the policy explanations.

He's honest about colleagues and most backroom discussions within his party, writes well, and comes across as a warm person, although things like the entire explanation of his time as a lawyer for Kerry Packer (dodgy stuff on tax avoidance no matter how he spins it, and especially getting the QLD Joh government to run an inquest into a dude specifically to find he wasn't murdered at the outset), NBN chapter (where he seems almost pissed off to have to write the chapter, talking up his botched NBN changes that clearly went against public interest for political pointscoring), as well as the explanations into why he didn't get rid of negative gearing (Turnbull claims issues with housing is due to supply, you need more public housing -- so then why didn't he announce to build more public housing or some other big housing policy undertaking? He simply leaves it hanging) show clearly that he's not willing to discuss problematic policy in the LNP during his time as PM. To say nothing of the morals of asylum seeker policy and debate, something a guy as socially liberal as Turnbull believing in a "multicultural Australia" would surely find fault. This is largely glossed over beyond the call with Trump where he organised the deal to send some to America, and a passing mention of Dutton as a "tough cop" who wouldn't work as leader in a "multicultural Australia". An interesting aside he makes is apparently Dutton behind the tough act is actually quite caring, to the point of worrying for the asylum seeker's mental health, something that hasn't been corroborated anywhere else, and I find kinda weird considering Dutton hasn't made any reference that I know of to looking out for asylum seekers. There's more here that Turnbull doesn't go into much to my annoyance. It's like he dangles interesting tidbits here and there of "behind the scenes" stuff but it's never a full dissection of policy, and seeming always to favour Turnbull in the outcome.

I'm kinda torn on this book because I did like reading it and Turnbull's view of his time in politics is interesting but I guess as with all politicians, the man doesn't tell the whole truth when it suits him. Some of the book glosses over unsavory LNP policy, and you can tell when he does this. His major error was in putting Dutton in cabinet and not heeding warnings that the far-right of the party would obviously hate a little-L liberal as leader. Doesn't take a genius to know Dutton is a walking disaster in the style of Abbott and that someone on the far-right was white-anting to take leadership during Turnbull's term.

Fundamentally I think Turnbull simply didn't go with the right party, in today's political environment he's a Labor dude -- Labor is centre-right nowadays, economically conservative and socially liberal. Turnbull's views lie in this area, and beyond saying he'd feel "uncomfortable" in the Labor party, he never delves into what ideologically drove him to the Liberal party, outside of their respect for private industry, something Labor pretty much does, being that market freedom and deregulation under neoliberalism is the accepted economic view of both parties, with Labor putting a few constraints. Turnbull blames having no campaign money for the 2016 election on winding back tax credits for the rich and the rich donors subsequently not donating -- this is a Labor policy, not LNP, and it's no wonder he was regarded an outsider and a 'leftist' by right-wing commentators. Dude should've gone Labor, and we could've had a good NBN, and a leader who Australians like helming Labor, something unfortunately Shorten and Gillard could never achieve. Alas, we had Turnbull running a party that ideologically was to the right of its leader, never particularly liked by his colleagues or by those staunchly LNP, to be forced out for someone further to the right, and he failed on the most important policy -- climate change, something he'd put front and centre of his political identity. ...more

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May 19, 2020 John Kennedy rated it liked it

When you rate and review an autobiography, it is often difficult to separate your like or dislike of the person from your like or dislike of the book, hence their can be great disparity from mine reviewer to the next.

As a book, I think it was okay: a solid read and entertaining enough but by no means a page turner. Fortunately, it does not fall into the trap of many other autobiographies of getting bogged down in the minutia of the lives of his parents and grandparents and his childhood. It mov When you rate and review an autobiography, it is often difficult to separate your like or dislike of the person from your like or dislike of the book, hence their can be great disparity from mine reviewer to the next.

As a book, I think it was okay: a solid read and entertaining enough but by no means a page turner. Fortunately, it does not fall into the trap of many other autobiographies of getting bogged down in the minutia of the lives of his parents and grandparents and his childhood. It moves through this phase at rapid pace, a phase that does make for really interesting reading and shed light on parts of Malcolm’s early life that I had know idea about and which most certainly shaped him. His parents were very interesting people and I enjoyed learning of Malcolm’s quite atypical upbringing, particularly about his unusual yet warm relationship with his father.

With the parts of the book that dealt with his law, business and political career, there is a recurring theme: In Malcolm’s opinion he was always the smartest guy in the room and he really enjoys the opportunity to step you the reader through stories which pay homage to his power to persuade, to mount and argument, to cleverly cajole, to masterfully steer others and his uncanny ability to always tip things to his advantage, leaving all others around him (leading lawyers, business people, politicians and key world figures) looking like absolute befuddled dodos who needed Malcolm to spell things out and dumb things down for them. Malcolm used hindsight to tell us how brilliant he was. It undermines the book that he rarely does anything even marginally bordering on opening up about his weakness, foibles or character flaws. This lack of true candour is a pity. I just finished a book Desperado in which the Cocaine Cowboy Jon Roberts, a gangster, drug dealer, murderer and sociopath at least has the self awareness more introspective. Side note to Malcolm’s ego: he loves namedropping and shares with us little quips he made to the person of the dropped name who always, according to Malcolm, react in a way that shows a wry appreciation of his wit. In Malcolm’s defence, he does open up about his mental health challenges in a way that is quite revealing and raw.

I enjoyed his honest opinions about the current prime minister, Dutton, Abbot, Barnaby, Matthias and other Australian politicians. He was honest, but I believe held back...he could have said a lot more and chose not to and for that I give him credit as he must have been tempted to take a few more pot shots and those who undermined his leadership.

The book delves deep into the policies and schemes he implemented or tried to implement as a politician, probably to the point of becoming tedious, at times. I think Malcolm does so to try to lay out or define his political legacy, and these chapters of the book will not be for everyone.

As a lawyer, he got to drag key English figures over the Cold War coals and this episode makes for a fascinating read. The facts of the case he takes on are quite remarkable, made all the more so given the facts were being fleshed out and challenged by a very young and fresh faced Malcolm

He may have an ego, but I think Malcolm is inherently decent and principled (any lawyer or politician occasionally has to comprise their principles) and our nation would have been much better served by him staying on for another term. The nation was deprived by plotters in his own party and I enjoyed his account of the events that lead to his political demise. I accept his view that wreckers on the conservative side of the liberal party - puppets of the right wing media - chose to sabotage Malcolm unconcerned, and maybe hopeful, of the damage it would do to the liberal parties chances of success at the next election.

I give both Malcolm and the book a 3.5.

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May 07, 2020 Gordon Barlow rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Kinda spoilers below (mostly if you haven’t been watching the news for the last 2 years lol)

Opinion on policy aside, Turnbull’s memoir does well to paint the picture of a man who was viewed simultaneously as conservative ‘Mr Harbourside Mansion’ and a ‘Labor Prime Minister in disguise’ depending on who you asked.

Some significant shortfalls aside (NBN cough) it is hard not to empathise with Turnbull on the war of three fronts he was up against, 1) the Coalition party “terrorists” who sought to ac Kinda spoilers below (mostly if you haven’t been watching the news for the last 2 years lol)

Opinion on policy aside, Turnbull’s memoir does well to paint the picture of a man who was viewed simultaneously as conservative ‘Mr Harbourside Mansion’ and a ‘Labor Prime Minister in disguise’ depending on who you asked.

Some significant shortfalls aside (NBN cough) it is hard not to empathise with Turnbull on the war of three fronts he was up against, 1) the Coalition party “terrorists” who sought to actively blow the party up as to restore a hard-right leader (with a loss at the 2019 election a worthy sacrifice), 2) Murdoch/2GB relentless attacks, and 3) a Labor party with no intention of bipartisanship, happy to sit back and watch MT struggle to implement policy they broadly agreed with, but would rather enact themselves after winning the 2019 election. Turnbull’s recounts of his waging of this war does a lot to counter the (generic) assertion that he was a spineless PM. (The fact he lost his job twice over fighting to enact a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and legislating a requirement for investment in clean energy infrastructure respectively is a conversation for another time!!).

Understandably Turnbull seeks to defend the corner he was backed into, however this would have come across better paired with self criticism where it is due - Turnbull’s account of how the Liberal Party reformed Labor’s ‘back of a napkin’ NBN plan was all good and well, until he failed to mention that the costs have now ballooned to the costs of Labor’s plan anyway! As of May 2020 our average fixed broadband speed is 62nd in the world. MT is correct saying this is still more than what households need at this moment, and consumers would not have paid for top level speeds of 100mbps speeds anyway, however the decision to stick with a copper network opposed to fibre (as Labor proposed) is incredibly short sighted and will certainly come back to bite us all in the next 1-2 decades.

Now that both of those are out of the way. Turnbull’s frank assessment of of the dim witted Dutton with delusions of grandeur above his intellectual capacity and Abbott’s comically evil plotting are highly enjoyable to read. I think a key take away from this book is how human Malcolm is, with admissions of mental health battles going onto antidepressants in 2009, and these clear to see opinions of politicians which we’ve all been calling out for years, but he has had to bite his tongue until now.

Overall this is not a celebration of a highly successful Prime Ministership, but rather the story of the death of moderate liberalism in the Liberal party. Turnbull’s decision to not put his name forward in the 2018 leadership spill was made to ensure the the leadership went to the (relatively lol) preferable option of Morrison as opposed to Dutton, who likely could have prevailed if MT put himself in the mix. This act to ensure the country would not have a hard right PM is another example of MT not being as self serving as public opinion suggests. In hindsight since the Coalition managed to pull off a surprising win in the 2019 election, maybe it would have been better to let Dutton steer us into a cliff for 12 months then use that as proof that hard right leadership is not an option.

Anyway despite some shortcomings in his assessment of his achievements (they are blatantly obvious when you come across them) this memoir serves as an entertaining insight to the workings of the Coalition during the 45th Parliament of Australia. Maybe I imagined this but I swear he references coronavirus at one point which was weird to think about. If you’ve gotten this far in my rambling opinion piece thank you for coming to my TED talk.

4/5. ...more

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May 27, 2020 Rosalie rated it it was ok

Malcolm Turnbull: A Bigger Picture

Well I have to say that I think Malcolm Turnbull is remembering a different Australia to the one that I remember. He is certainly very self-congratulatory about the achievements of his time in government especially as PM. Two key areas stand out: firstly, I don’t know where he got the data from to argue that thee was real economic growth and job creation. If you look at the economy before the impact of Corona Virus, then it is a picture of slow economic growth a Malcolm Turnbull: A Bigger Picture

Well I have to say that I think Malcolm Turnbull is remembering a different Australia to the one that I remember. He is certainly very self-congratulatory about the achievements of his time in government especially as PM. Two key areas stand out: firstly, I don’t know where he got the data from to argue that thee was real economic growth and job creation. If you look at the economy before the impact of Corona Virus, then it is a picture of slow economic growth and very little real job creation (the Corona Virus has just exacerbated that); and secondly, he blames the Rudd/Gillard Labor governments for wasting money on the NBN. While I know that the decision to change the NBN scheme wasn’t his, he justifies it by saying that it was over budget and under achieving the targets. but it was delivering real improved internet access Now we have a scheme that is way over budget and not delivering the promised targets. These are just examples of the reality being different to how he recalls it.
I really can’t believe that he was as naïve and trusting of people as he makes out in the section on his downfall. Either he is a too nice a person for politics or he is just deluding himself when he thinks than any one can be trusted. He certainly does not have good character judgement when he describe Kerry Packer as getting a raw deal with the Costigan Royal Commission among other things.
This is a big book, some 660 pages of text, however just over a half of it is devoted to his time as PM and he goes into a lot of detail about what he did and how he did it. If you want an analysis of public policy fine, but if not then most of this section (section 5) can be skimmed and just read the chapters that interest you. While it is a big book, it is well written and he generally keeps the pace moving until he gets bound up in how good he was as PM. I would have liked more detail on his earlier life before politics and I found it interesting that there is very little mention of his mother after she left his father, and yet she had a very distinguished career.
All in all an okay read, just don’t expect anything that we really don’t already know.

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May 21, 2020 Maureen rated it really liked it

I enjoyed Malcolm Turnbull's book more than I expected to. He has certainly had a big life and it was also fascinating to get a behind the scenes look at people we only read about. Also learning about the decision-making behind the scenes on things like how to handle Trump (don't give in to a bully pretty much sums it up), what needs to be taken into account when ordering a submarine and what world leaders are really like one on one. His behind the scenes cameos of various world leaders and the ...more

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May 30, 2020 Kenneth rated it liked it

Before I begin, I would just like to say that I never voted for this man. I chose to read this book in order to expose myself to a bigger variety of opinions.

The book is very detailed, starting from Turnbull's childhood and ending with him watching the devastating fires of 2019-20. Throughout the book, we get a clear insight into just how toxic Australian politics has become. Everywhere you turn, there is infighting and plots to overthrow. I don't know how much of this is accurate. These kinds ...more

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May 22, 2020 Kevin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own, history, biography, australia, politics

Though full of self promotion and adoration of self, I quite enjoyed this book. I don't think it was a tough read, though the self-praise was a little tedious at times. The ex-PM's views will not be to everyone's liking (I for one don't agree with him on everything), however, I do think the book is worth reading and considering - he does make you think about policy areas and that is eminently a good thing.

Though panned in some circles for his assessment of colleagues (if they can be called that) ...more

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May 26, 2020 Mark Heaney rated it really liked it

Informative & entertaining. Of course the media discussion leading into the launch of the book was all about the coup, however that is just one chapter....the last.
Overall it's an interesting look at his entire life & that of his family. Particularly fascinating are stories of his early law career & investment stories.
It made me more forgiving of his failings, understanding the poor quality & integrity of those he had to deal with in his own Government.
It's a touch narcissistic, but I find most ...more

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May 24, 2020 Graham Johnson rated it really liked it

Like many Australians, I held some regard for the public persona of Malcolm Turnbull even if not someone I would support politically. The audiobook version of this big book is 25 + hours long. Read by the author, it is chronologically organised for the coverage of his time up to when he became Prime Minister of Australia. The latter chapters are issues based which does lead to some confusion. I was disappointed that Turnbull chose to continue the slogan based approach of the analysis of alternat ...more

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May 24, 2020 Ben Dowden rated it really liked it

There are lots of scathing reviews from staunch leftists on here. I’m a more casual leftist who enjoyed Malcolm’s account of leading a progressive in the Lion’s Den of regressive [not conservative, I liked that subtle distinction] right wing politics.

If anything, even if I disagree on some political points, I enjoyed the read as a young man almost finishing university. This book has taught me the value of knocking on closed doors, standing for my principles and assertively placing myself where ...more

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