Barnaby’s ghost dig at ‘sooky la la’ Mal

MALCOLM Turnbull has been blasted by his one-time deputy who said the former prime minister needs to stop being a “sooky la la”.

Former leader of the Nationals Barnaby Joyce took aim at the PM he served directly under for two years after Mr Turnbull appeared at a senate inquiry into media diversity where he claimed he was bullied by News Corp, publisher of this newspaper, while in the country’s top job.

“I want to talk about ‘miserable ghosts’. He has this quote which was for people who hung around the political field,” Mr Joyce told 2GB.

“Malcolm has been a continual commentator and I understand it is a thing in politics: people get bitter and twisted about the fact they are no longer prime minister. It is just sooking. It is sooky, sooky, sooky la la land.”

The pair had a fiery relationship when working together in politics. In 2018, Mr Turnbull (pictured) spoke publicly about Mr Joyce’s conduct in fathering a child with his then-media adviser and now wife Vikki Campion, describing the relationship as a “shocking error of judgment”.

Mr Turnbull made a second appearance at a Senate inquiry into media diversity on Monday, attacking News Corp and its counterparts in the US as enemies of the democratic process.

Mr Turnbull, who last week was dumped by the NSW government from the chair of a net-zero emissions board, claimed he was the victim of a “vendetta” by the publisher, while he also suggested Fox News in the US, also owned by News Corp, bore much of the responsibility for the January 6 riot at the Capitol.