Rupert Murdoch has been accused of foreign interference in Australian politics after reports he was behind the ousting of Malcolm Turnbull.
The billionaire media mogul, who was born in Melbourne but became a US citizen in 1985, is said to have forced Turnbull out after conservative rebels cited constant negative press as a reason for their revolt and the ensuing leadership spill.
During Turnbull’s final days, Murdoch’s radio stations, TV channels and newspapers including Sky News, 2GB, The Australian and The Daily Telegraph, ratcheted up speculation of a plot against the Prime Minister.
Mogul: Rupert Murdoch (pictured with is wife Jerry Hall in New York last year has been accused of foreign interference in Australian politics after reports he was behind the ousting of Malcolm Turnbull
It came after Murdoch’s company, News Ltd, which controls 58 per cent of newspaper sales in Australia, hammered Turnbull with negative coverage in the weeks prior to his resignation on 24 August.
Turnbull was so suspicious of a so-called ‘campaign’ by Murdoch to oust him that he sought advice from another mogul Kerry Stokes, the chairman of Seven West Media, the ABC and the Australian Financial Review reported.
According to the ABC, Stokes sympathised with Turnbull’s concerns and said he feared a Liberal Party revolt would deliver a Labor government headed by Bill Shorten.
Stokes reportedly contacted Murdoch himself to ask why he was going ‘so hard’ on Turnbull.
According to an ABC source, Murdoch told Stokes: ‘We have got to get rid of Malcolm. If that’s the price of getting rid of him then I can put up with three years of Labor.’
Ousted: Malcolm Turnbull delivers his resignation speech on August 24, slamming MPs for rebelling against him
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (right in parliament), accused Murdoch of ousting him in 2010 and, now out of politics, frequently uses social media to denounce the billionaire and News Corp generally
Murdoch, 87, was in Australia for at least ten days before Turnbull’s downfall after arriving from New York on August 10.
Sources say during his visit he instructed his news editors across several platforms to ramp up criticism of the Prime Minister.
A former Turnbull staffer told Guardian Australia:’There was no doubt there was a marked shift in the tone and content of the News Corp publications once Rupert arrived.’
‘And there was no doubt in our minds that News was backing [right-wing candidate] Peter Dutton.’
The staffer is not the only one to speculate that Murdoch wanted to shift Australian politics to the right.
Associate Professor David McKnight from the University of New South Wales said he believes Murdoch wants to make Australia as right-wing as Trump’s America.
Murdoch has been accused of using his power to dictate Australian politics
‘In my view, Rupert Murdoch intends to transform Australia into a conservative nation and he wants to put it on the Trump road,’ he told Guardian Australia.
Questions have repeatedly been raised about the power of News Ltd given that Australia has the third-most concentrated media market after Egypt and China.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, accused Murdoch of ousting him in 2010 and, now out of politics, frequently uses social media to denounce the billionaire and News Corp generally.
In August he called Murdoch a ‘cancer eating the heart of Australian democracy.
And on Friday he tweeted: ‘Maybe it’s time for [PM Scott] Morrison to amend the foreign interference laws to deal with US citizen Murdoch.’
In another tweet on Wednesday he doubled down on his previous claim that Murdoch’s empire behaves ‘effectively as a political party in pursuit of its financial interests.’
He said politicians are too scared to stand up Murdoch because they fear they will be ‘destroyed’ in the press.
He said when he was in office in 2007-10 he repeatedly tried to take on the organisation which he described as a ‘political force’ but was told by his cabinet not to dare.
‘That’s where we have got to – when an entire government thinks it’s so powerless in dealing with a force like that,’ he told Guardian Australia.
In a statement News Corp said: ‘Mr Rudd again demonstrates his failure to understand the role of the media in a democracy – it is to challenge, question and hold to account those in public office on behalf of the communities they serve.
‘A free press is critical to a free society. This often means telling uncomfortable truths but we have a long and proud history of telling the stories that matter to Australians.’
Kevin Rudd said politicians are too scared to stand up Murdoch because they fear they will be ‘destroyed’ in the press. Pictured: Turnbull delivers his resignation speech