Fed: Packer threatened to kill me over Fairfax, Turnbull says
04 Jun 2009 12:12 AM
MELBOURNE, June 4 AAP - Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says the late media magnate Kerry Packer threatened to kill him in a falling-out over a deal to buy the Fairfax newspaper group in the early 1990s.
Mr Turnbull said the threat came when he told Mr Packer he planned to have him ejected from the consortium looking to buy Fairfax in 1991.
In a profile of Mr Turnbull written for the Quarterly Essay by Fairfax journalist Annabel Crabb, and quoted in Fairfax newspapers on Thursday, Mr Turnbull said: "Kerry was, um; Kerry got a bit out of control at that time. He told me he'd kill me, yeah. I didn't think he was completely serious, but I didn't think he was entirely joking either.
"Look, he could be pretty scary.
"He did threaten to kill me. And I said to him: `Well, you'd better make sure that your assassin gets me first because if he misses, you better know I won't miss you'.
"He could be a complete pig, you know. He could charm the birds out of the tree, but he could be a brute."
It is the first time Mr Turnbull has spoken out about his falling-out with Mr Packer and his role in leaking information that scuttled the Fairfax deal.
Mr Packer had insisted he would be a silent partner in the deal, which involved Mr Turnbull representing a group of junk-bond holders and now jailed Canadian media baron Conrad Black, Fairfax said.
Black and Mr Packer sacked the consortium's chief executive Trevor Kennedy, a friend of Mr Turnbull, and Mr Packer appeared to distance himself from Mr Turnbull, the newspapers said.
"I regarded what Kerry was doing as absolutely ... it was not only stupid but it was contrary to everyone's interests," Mr Turnbull told Ms Crabb.
"And he was taking the view that because he was bigger and richer than me, he could run me into the ground.
"So I rang Kerry Packer and I had a major row with him. I said: `If you want to do this, this is it. This is the end. There is no stepping back from this. This is war ... I told him I'd get him thrown out of the deal. I never make threats I don't carry out'."
Mr Turnbull delivered notes taken by Mr Kennedy to the head of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal.
The notes indicated Mr Packer wanted control of Fairfax to take revenge on editors and journalists.
Mr Packer withdrew from the consortium days later.
