Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has denied encouraging Australians to vote for teal independents at the election after signalling that their candidacy offered a valid choice to voters disgruntled with the direction of the Liberal Party.
During a speech to the Harvard Club of Washington DC, Mr Turnbull suggested that the success of independents at this year's election could "thwart" the capture of the Liberal Party by its conservative factions.
Mr Turnbull said moderate voices in the Liberal Party had diminished on issues such as climate change action, which he has long advocated for.
"In many respects, this may be the most interesting part of the whole election, because if more of these 'teal' independents win, it will mean the capture of the Liberal Party will be thwarted by direct, democratic action from voters," he said.
"People power, you might say."
But Mr Turnbull has since denied the public intervention marked a call to arms for people to vote against the Liberal Party at the 21 May poll.
"In the federal party room, the tide has really gone out for the smaller 'L' liberals and the moderates," he told the ABC's AM program on Friday.
"So the consequence is that people who were more comfortable with that side of the Liberal Party are, if you like, voting with their feet, and supporting 'teal independents'.
"Now that is their democratic right, and whether you want to vote for them or not — I'm not encouraging people to vote for anyone, I'm encouraging people to vote."
During his speech in Washington, Mr Turnbull said the Liberal Party had witnessed its more moderate voices become marginalised since being deposed as prime minister.
"Since my deposition in 2018 it is fair to say that the liberal, or moderate, voices have been marginalised and their influence is much diminished and diminishing," he said.
He compared this to a similar trend within the Republican party in the United States.
"To quote Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, 'I don’t really know what the party stands for anymore … I think mentally I feel more like an independent than a Republican'."
Mr Turnbull concluded by saying "If January 6 [the ] did anything, it should have banished complacency".
The comment was one of several comparisons made during the speech between right-wing populism in the United States and Australia during the last five years.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called on Australians not to vote for independent candidates.
"A vote for independents is a vote for chaos, it's a vote for instability," Mr Morrison said.
"(With) a cavalcade of independents, you are inviting chaos and weakness, a strong economy versus a weak economy."
Asked on the ABC's AM radio program if he agreed with Mr Morrison's comments, Mr Turnbull said: "No, I do not."
Mr Turnbull said a hung parliament wouldn’t necessarily cause instability, pointing to the record of internal divisions and leadership challenges witnessed within both major parties.
"The big parties, whether it's Labor or Liberal, are hardly in a position credibly, to say that they represent the best chance for stability."
Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie called the prime minister's comments a "shameful slur".
In his speech, Mr Turnbull said the "opens up another option" than the traditional two-party system, which he claims many Australians feel don't represent their views.
He said more Australians are showing support for independents who are "typically progressive on climate and social issues, but more conservative than Labor on economic issues".
"Even if the members of a political party cannot escape from the thrall of the dominant faction, their traditional supporters in the electorate can do so by voting for an independent who has a real chance of success," he said.
Mr Turnbull, who was deposed as prime minister in 2018 after a leadership spill, also mentioned what he described as the detrimental effects of media misinformation on the democratic process.
He said media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's Australian media outlets had "gone down the same populist partisan track as Fox News".
