‘He’s a thug’: Project panel left shocked

Malcolm Turnbull hit out at the thought of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton becoming prime minister on Sunday night’s edition of The Project.

The former prime minister was strongly opinionated on the topic, saying the idea of the Liberal Party leader scoring the top position of power made him shudder.

“I think that’s something we should contemplate with dread,” Mr Turnbull said.

His words were met with a shocked response from the hosts and audience, along with some smatterings of laughter.

When asked why, Mr Turnbull said, while grinning: “Well he’s a thug.”

“Peter’s got one tune that he plays and it’s been all his political life and that is division and animosity, generally targeted at immigrants,” said Mr Turnbull.

“I couldn’t think of anyone less suited to be prime minister of a multicultural society like Australia.

“There’s no point pulling my punches, it’s an important question and I’ve given you an honest answer.”

Asked about the prospect of returning to politics himself, Mr Turnbull quickly shut it down.

“No, I’m happy to be out of it. But I really loved doing the work I did in politics and I would have liked to do it for a few more years. But I’ve got no desire to come back,” he said.

“Absolutely not.”

“Just to keep Dutton out of the top job?” host Sarah Harris teased.

“Well look, I’m young enough for it,” Mr Turnbull joked.

In May, Mr Dutton pledged to cut the migration rate by 140,000 in his budget reply, arguing that doing so would help address the housing shortage. Critics labelled it “ugly politics”.

The Opposition Leader linked the number of migrants and overseas students to increasing rents while outlining his alternative plan for the nation.

Political editor of 7.30, Laura Tingle, said Mr Dutton’s speech was “very slogan-driven”.

“Basically sort of appealing to all of those real sort of white-hot, very simple ideas of: ‘We can’t get enough houses. It’s all migration’s fault,’” she said.

“I think that sort of sets us up for some pretty ugly politics which doesn’t require much rational, you know, detail of policy.”

Mr Turnbull would presumably have agreed with her.

It’s not the first time Mr Turnbull has slammed Mr Dutton publicly. Earlier in the year, he called the alternative PM a “thug” during an episode of the ABC docuseries Nemesis focused on the fallout of the 2018 leadership spill. Mr Dutton laughed off the character assessment.

Mr Turnbull also received his fair share of blunt character assessments in the series, with Liberal Senator James McGrath calling him “one of the nastiest people I’ve come across in politics”.

In February, Mr Turnbull was criticised by his former deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, who slammed him as “a sh*thead” over his infamous ban on ministers having sex with their staffers.

Mr Joyce was furious over the intrusion, as he saw it, into his “private life”.

“I was furious,” he recalled

“I didn’t see him as a prime minister. I just saw him as an idiot.”

Barnaby Joyce had a relationship with his staffer Vikki Campion. It resulted in the end of his marriage to his first wife.