"Malcolm grew up in Vaucluse and Double Bay in the 1950s and 1960s. His father, Bruce, was a single parent for much of Malcolm's childhood. They lived in a series of flats, mostly rented.

Malcolm was educated at Vaucluse Public School and Sydney Grammar School. Malcolm's high school education at Sydney Grammar was assisted by a scholarship.

Seventeen years ago Malcolm arranged for an additional means tested scholarship to be established at Sydney Grammar in memory of his late father.

Malcolm graduated from Sydney University with a BA LLB. He won a Rhodes Scholarship and completed a further law degree at Oxford.

During and after his studies at Sydney University, Malcolm worked as a journalist with the Bulletin, 2SM, TCN 9 and the London Sunday Times.

After a successful career in journalism Malcolm began practicing law in 1980. He quickly established a reputation as an effective advocate, most notably when he successfully defended former MI5 agent Peter Wright against the British Government, in the "Spycatcher" trial.


Malcolm left law for business in 1987 where he has since been responsible for the establishment and success of many Australian businesses. In particular he has been a determined supporter of Australian technology. He co-founded OzEmail in 1994. His software companies have won many awards for exporting Australian technology.

In 1997 Malcolm was elected to attend the Australian Constitutional Convention. He led the republican case in that Convention and in the subsequent referendum.

Malcolm has initiated numerous policy and research projects in areas such as education, indigenous affairs, home ownership affordability, balancing work and family responsibilities and national population and fertility policy. He has been Chair of the Menzies Research Centre since 2001.

Malcolm married Lucy Hughes in 1980. Their two children, Alex and Daisy attended local schools and have now completed University.

Lucy and Malcolm have been partners not only in marriage but also in their many businesses. Lucy was the first female Lord Mayor of Sydney, a position she held until early 2004.

Malcolm was elected as the Federal Member for Wentworth at the general election on 9 October, 2004. Malcolm has had a long interest in water policy and water conservation in particular. Malcolm was appointed Minister for the Environment and Water Resources on 30 January 2007 having held the position of Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister since 27 January 2006. Prior to that Malcolm was a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and the House of Representatives Standing Committees on Economics, Health and Ageing and Legal and Constitutional Affairs. "

http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/


What's the bet on King Turnbull being the next PM ??

Hey sprint, you left out the bit about Turnbull begging Paul Keating for a job in the senate as a Labor member to replace Graham Richardson, what is it with the Liberal party rebirthing Labor disscards as their leaders?.

Turnbull told a different story.  He said Keating approached him and asked him if he wanted a job - apparently they were pursuing some common cause at the time.

Turnbull refused politely and said - he wouldn't be good for Labor and Labor wouldn't be good for him - or similar words.

But Turnbull is already contradicting himself.  He's been running off at the mouth saying Labor is talking down the economy and yesterday - finally when Swan was talking about how strong our economy was - he said that we are about to be hit with a major recession and the Government should know this and start being realistic.

He is also a boring orator and peppers his sentences with ahhh, errr and ummm.

But on the other side of the coin - the Greens appear to want to work with him on climate change and claim he is way ahead of Labor on this issue.

I agree with that grendel, and really if true, it shows us only that he is not a man irretrievably wedded to extreme ideologies along old left/right divides.

I don't mind any one who is up for challenging Rudd's free ride, he has been getting it way too easy from the disjointed Libs, a strong opposition is good for us all.

Quote:


That's all we've come to expect because that's all we get.  I heard Turnbull again today and even though I didn't disagree with some of what he had to say - he is so boring and long winded.  He really needs to get to the point more quickly because he's just going to send everyone to sleep.

To all the whiners who kept complaining that Labor was 'talking down' the economy - would you prefer they had talked it up and people had gotten further into debt and taken more risks?

There are very sound reasons for the reserve bank to try to use interest rates to slow the economy or speed it up at various times. But you can only do so much with interest rates. If our leaders are realistic about the economy and give it to us straight, as Labor has been doing, then it makes the reserve bank's job much easier. On the other hand if they try to keep blowing air into the bubble for some short term political mileage, we'd all be worse off when it finally bursts. Despite the 'economic rationalist' posturing of the Liberals, Labor has been handling the economy far better lately.

At least Turnbull finally admitted that it was a case of realism, not false pessimism.