The uneasy peace between Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison has been shattered with the former prime minister effectively branding his successor a liar.
Mr Turnbull has taken issue with Mr Morrison after the Prime Minister claimed Mr Turnbull’s two-day mission to Jakarta was to represent Australia at an oceans summit, not to discuss the future of the free trade agreement and other irritants in the relationship caused by Mr Morrison flagging a relocation of Australia’s Israeli embassy to Jerusalem.
“He was there to actually attend an oceans conference, the issues of trade and other things of course were not really part of the brief,” Mr Morrison told 2GB shock-jock Alan Jones, who was among those who campaigned for Mr Turnbull to be driven from office.
Mr Morrison then suggested Mr Turnbull did not conduct himself in an appropriate manner while abroad.
A few facts. @ScottMorrisonMP asked me to discuss trade and the embassy issue in Bali and we had a call before I left to confirm his messages which I duly relayed to @jokowi There was a detailed paper on the issue in my official brief as well.
— Malcolm Turnbull (@TurnbullMalcolm) November 1, 2018
Read the article by Phillip Coorey (AFR) in Business Insider Australia.