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The Reluctant Republic - Malcolm Turnbull
The Reluctant Republic -
Malcolm Turnbull
Used softback: .1993 edition paperback in good condition
Rare book by Malcolm Turnbull writing in support of the Republic 1993
About the Author Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954), Australian politician, was the
Federal Minister for Environment and Water Resources until November 2007. He is
a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the
Division of Wentworth in Sydney's eastern suburbs since October 2004. Before
entering parliamentary politics he practiced as a barrister, was a merchant
banker, and was leader of the Australian Republican Movement. In light of the
Liberal Party's defeat at the Federal elections, and former Treasurer Peter
Costello declining the role of Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull announced his
intention to run for Leader of the Liberal Party, but lost 42 votes to 45 to
former Defence Minister Brendan Nelson and expressed his full support for Dr
Nelson on 29 November 2007.Turnbull will instead be shadow treasurer.
Early life
Turnbull's mother was writer and academic Coral Lansbury, but his parents
separated when he was nine and he was brought up by his father. He spent his
first three years of school at Vaucluse Public School. He continued his primary
education at Sydney Grammar Prep, St Ives. He then went to Sydney Grammar
School's Senior school at College Street in Sydney. He was Dux of his year
throughout Preparatory and Senior School, and was also Senior Prefect in 1972.
In 1987, in memory of his late father, he set up the Bruce Turnbull means-tested
scholarship at Sydney Grammar School, which offers full remission of fees to a
student who is unable to pay the school's fees.
Turnbull graduated from Sydney University with a double degree in law and arts.
He then studied law at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar from 1978 to
1980. He studied for a Bachelor of Civil Law degree while at Oxford and then
returned to Australia. While at University in Sydney he worked as a political
journalist for The Nation Review, Radio 2SM and Channel 9 covering state
politics. While at Oxford he worked for The Sunday Times as well as contributing
to a number of other newspapers and magazines in the United States and
Australia. He was married to Lucy Hughes in 1980 at Cumnor, near Oxford, while
he was studying at Oxford, and he and Lucy returned to Australia later that year
when he was admitted to the Bar. Turnbull left the Bar in 1983 to become the
General Counsel for Consolidated Press Holdings Limited, the Packer family's
media group. He rose to the public's attention as the successful advocate in the
Spycatcher trial (he blocked the British Government's attempts to suppress the
memoirs of a former MI5 agent), and later wrote a book on the trial.
Career
Turnbull has also had a career in business. He was General Counsel and Secretary
for Australian Consolidated Press Holdings Group, the family company of Kerry
Packer, from 1983 to 1985. During this time he defended 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 and in
that year successfully defended Peter Wright in his battle with the British
Government over his book Spycatcher. 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 NSW 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 Australia's leading email company OzEmail Ltd (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 1999 Turnbull sold OzEmail to the then telecommunications giant MCI Worldcom.
Turnbull's stake was reportedly worth nearly A million; he is now often
quoted as having a net worth of some A0 million, making him Australia's
richest parliamentarian.
From 1993 to 2000 Turnbull was the chairman of the Australian Republican
Movement. He was an elected delegate at the Constitutional Convention in
Canberra in February, 1998, and in 1999 published a book on the subject, called
Fighting for the Republic. Following the unsuccessful 1999 referendum campaign
to establish an Australian 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
In May 2002, Turnbull appeared before the HIH 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 Commmissioner's
Report made no adverse findings against him or Goldman Sachs.
Despite Turnbull's involvement with the republican movement, his frequent
criticism of Prime Minister John Howard during the referendum, and his business
partnership with Neville Wran, he has always been politically aligned with the
Liberal Party. He was Federal Treasurer of the Liberal Party, and a member of
the Liberal Party's Federal and New South Wales Executives, 2002-03, and was
also a director of the Menzies Research Centre, the Liberal Party's research
centre.
Politics
Turnbull first ran for Liberal Party preselection for the seat of Wentworth in
the eastern suburbs of Sydney in 1981, but was beaten by Peter Coleman. In 2003
Turnbull announced that he was seeking a seat in Federal Parliament. In early
2004 he won another hotly contested preselection 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 0,000 on electoral expenditure.[6] The Liberal
vote fell 10 percent, but Turnbull still won.
Since his election Turnbull has made a series of speeches on economic matters,
particularly taxation, which some commentators have seen as implied criticisms
of the policies of the Treasurer, Peter Costello, although Turnbull denies this.
Announcing his cabinet reshuffle on 24 January 2006, Australian 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 2007, Turnbull promised that his government, if elected, would grant same-sex
couples death benefits in Commonwealth superannuation schemes, a similar promise
to which was made three years prior during the 2004 Federal election campaign.
Turnbull retained his New South Wales division at the 2007 election. Following
the defeat of John Howard in his electorate of Bennelong and the decision by
deputy leader Peter Costello to not contest the leadership of the Liberal Party,
there was widespread speculation that Turnbull would be the new Opposition
Leader after his announcement on 25 November that he would contest the Liberal
leadership but he was defeated by Brendan Nelson in a 45 to 42 vote.
Brendan Nelson in turn appointed him Shadow Treasurer.
Criticism
In his position as Environment Minister, he has approved a proposed .7 billion
Bell Bay Pulp Mill in Tasmania's north, near Launceston. His final approval of
the Bell Bay Pulp Mill project of Gunns Ltd came on the 4th of October 2007,
allegedly influenced by Gunns' ongoing donations to the Liberal Party. Mr
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. Critics have accused him
of failing to assess the environmental cost of the mill in terms of forest
destruction and greenhouse emissions. It is reported that the Pulp Mill
will, amongst a number of other toxic emissions, increase Australia's yearly
contribution to greenhouse gas emission by more than 2 per cent. This reportedly
amounts to an extra 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas a year.
In February 2007 Turnbull was criticised for claiming a government allowance of
5 a night and paying it to his wife as rent while living in a townhouse owned
by her in Canberra.
During the 2007 election campaign, Turnbull announced that the then Government,
would contribute 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. The Australian Rain Corporation presented research documents written in
Russian, explained by a Russian researcher who spoke to local experts in Russian
.
Although Turnbull claimed that Australian Rain Corporation is Australian-based,
investigations have shown that it is in fact 75% 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 .
Family
Turnbull is married, with two children, Alexander and Daisy, and lives in
Sydney. His wife, Lucy Turnbull, nÃÃe Hughes, a prominent businesswoman and a
former Lord Mayor of Sydney, is the daughter of distinguished Australian
barrister and former federal Attorney-General Tom Hughes AO QC, and her uncle is
writer and art critic Robert Hughes.
Although Turnbull is a convert to Roman Catholicism he has found himself at odds
with the Church's teaching on abortion and stem cell research. Turnbull
supported legislation relaxing restrictions on abortion pill RU486 and he also
voted for the legalisation of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (human cloning). He
did so despite the vocal public opposition to both proposals by Cardinal George
Pell, Archbishop of Sydney.
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)"; and "Fighting for the
Republic: the Ultimate Insider's Account (1999)".
In 1994 a portrait of Malcolm Turnbull by artist Bill Leak won the People's
choice award at the Archibald Prize.
The Reluctant Republic - Malcolm Turnbull
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