ABC Nemesis LIVE: ‘Very dangerous PM’ Tony Abbott ‘wanted to send Australian troops to Ukraine after MH17 was downed’, Malcolm Turnbull claims

Speaking to journalist Mark Willacy, Mr Turnbull recalled a ‘genuinely crazy idea’ Abbott had to send armed personnel to Ukraine after MH17 was downed.

“To send armed personnel … no-one would’ve welcomed it, and particularly our Western allies would not have welcomed it,’ he said.

“It showed, if you like, the elements of Tony that started to make me feel that we had a very dangerous prime minister.”

The 2014 tragedy cost 38 Australian citizens or residents their lives. In total, 298 people were on board when Russia-backed separatists targeted the flight. There were no survivors.

Then-Australian Defence Force chief Angus Houston said Mr Abbott ‘had a great concern for the welfare of the families’ and was determined to recover the remains of Australians and repatriate them.

Speaking of their initial discussions to roll Abbott when the polls started to go south, Turnbull and Morrison had varied recollections.

Mr Turnbull said: ‘Scott was keen to get moving against Abbott. We had a series of meetings around that period. He was very concerned about Abbott’s prospects.

‘Scott is a very professional political tactician, and he can count.’

But Mr Turnbull said he was wary of Morrison, even then.

‘I know the guy, right? I’ve known him for years. I know how he operates. Scott’s dream sequence was for me to challenge Abbott, to lose, to be discredited as the disruptor, the challenger.

‘And then when Abbott continued to underperform, for Scott to come through the middle as the compromise candidate.’

Whereas, Morrison argued: ‘No, I don’t think I’d agree with the conclusion.

‘You know, people have discussions but can take away different conclusions.

‘We were in a difficult spot at that time, and, you know, there were assessments that things were not travelling well for us.

‘We needed to turn things around. That’s what we needed to do and I was keen to deal with that in the Cabinet.’

Turnbull accused Abbott of ‘amping up the rhetoric’ about terrorism around the world and how it impacts Australia in a calculated attempt ‘to frighten people’.

The ABC included a clip of Abbott talking about ISIS, saying: ‘As far as the Daesh dealth cult is concerned, it’s coming after us.’

Turnbull said: ‘He would do press conferences, not just with generals and admirals. But with more and more flags.

‘I think the highest number we got to was 10, five on each side. It was right over the top.’

Peta Credlin’s influence over Tony Abbott as his chief of staff was raised during the docuseries.

Mr Pyne argued she was ‘demonised’.

‘A powerful woman in Australia is still an unusual thing to a lot of people,’ he said.

But Mr Turnbull had a different assessment of the dynamics between Credlin and Abbott.

He said: ‘I’ve never known a person in a leadership position as dominated by another as Tony Abbott was by Peta Credlin.’

Victorian MP Russell Broadbent, the Federal MP for Monash, was scathing of Scott Morrison’s tenure in the Immigration portfolio.

He described Mr Morrison as: ‘Harsh, calculating and political.

‘There was no compassion in my view or consideration at all for them as human beings. Everything was calculated to becoming prime minister.

Christopher Pyne reveals there was a dinner in Canberra for Abbott’s ‘inner sanctum’ – which included just one woman, Julie Bishop.

‘And, yes, somebody did raise the issue about only one woman, Julie Bishop, being in the Cabinet,’ Mr Pyne said.

‘Look, Tony Abbott as the new Prime Minister, he took very badly to being given that advice.’

The show starts with a bang, with a series of politicians – current and former – sharing the one word that springs to mind when they hear the words ‘Tony Abbott’.

From ‘conservative’ to ‘courageous’, it’s evident there are many different recollections of Australia’s 28th Prime Minister.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce described how the men were polar opposites – long before the political rivalry which called time on Mr Abbott’s prime ministership.

‘One went to Riverview; one went to Grammar,’ he said, referring to the duo’s elite private schools.

‘They’re both Catholics, but one was from the right of the Catholic church, and one was from the left. They disliked each other.’

Their dislike for one another came to a head during the Republican debate. Mr Abbott is a staunch monarchist, while Mr Turnbull has led the charge for Australia to become a republic.

Though two former Liberal leaders will feature over the three-part series, Mr Abbott and current party Peter Dutton refused to go on camera.

ABC said Mr Abbott ‘politely’ turned them down.

In a preview for the show, former PM Malcolm Turnbull joked that Mr Abbott used the word ‘f***’ so often that he was ‘a skilful orator when it came to (its) use’.

As well as Mr Abbott and Mr Dutton, former Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also declined to take part.

Ms Bishop was not alone among Liberal women who were not willing to go on record, possibly in fear of repercussions.

‘I think women are punished differently,’ former cabinet minister Karen Andrews told the show.

‘And maybe we need to get better at really fighting it out, much more than we do.’

Mr Abbott was elected Leader of the Opposition in 2009, besting Malcolm Turnbull and Joe Hockey.

After narrowly losing the 2010 election, he came back to secure the Prime Ministership in 2013 on the back of a ruthless campaign vowing to ‘stop the boats’.

But he faced criticism early on for only appointing one woman – Julie Bishop – to his cabinet – which came on the back of Julia Gillard’s infamous misogyny speech directed at him in Parliament.

In February of 2015, he survived an attempted leadership spill, when the motion was defeated 61 votes to 39. He described it as a ‘near death experience’.

He wouldn’t be so lucky just seven months later, when Malcolm Turnbull challenged for leadership in September.

Mr Abbott was ousted 44 votes to 54, and returned to the backbench, where he remained for four more years.