He went on to say that he had hoped to push the party toward doing the right thing from within, but found that certain party members, who he would not name, were "oblivious to reason, evidence and indeed, common sense"; he had had enough and he felt the only way to get any movement was to push the "recalcitrant climate science deniers" from an open and public position.

When asked if anything in particular had triggered this profound change PM Turnbull said that he was listening to Mozart's music and looking at some Hans Heysen paintings when the thought struck him: "These men must have really loved the world they knew to produce works of such beauty. If they were to ask me, what was I doing for the planet?, what could I possibly answer to that?"

He said he was an admirer of people like Socrates, Galileo and Newton. He imagined himself having a conversation with them and shuddered to think how he would explain his inaction when action was so desperately needed if the earth was not to be irrevocably damaged.

PM Turnbull said "There are things that are more important than holding onto the top job. I have children and a grandchild. I have a responsibility to them to do all I can to preserve this world in a good condition for them and for all future generations. If I lose the Prime Ministership by this stance, so be it, I will have a clear conscience."

Malcolm Turnbull really did say this – in August 2010

"We are as humans conducting a massive science experiment with this planet. It's the only planet we've got... We know that the consequences of unchecked global warming would be catastrophic. We know that extreme weather events are occurring with greater and greater frequency and while it is never possible to point to one drought or one storm or one flood and say that particular incident is caused by global warming, we know that these trends are entirely consistent with the climate change forecasts with the climate models that the scientists are relying on... We as a human species have a deep and abiding obligation to this planet and to the generations that will come after us."

The Guardian.

He was Prime Minister from September 2015 to August 2018.