Former Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull finally announced his retirement from federal politics yesterday — via Twitter, no less:

turnbull twit

As Bernard Keane wrote in yesterday’s Crikey Daily Mail, rumours of his retirement had been circulating right through Easter, and it’s hard not to suspect many of Australia’s politics pundits already had pre-written obituaries on file, sandwiched somewhere between Fidel Castro’s and Kim Jong-il’s.

Nevertheless, many have expressed genuine sadness and disappointment at the end of a political career that never quite reached expectations.

Although his departure may be a relief for Tony Abbot, Keane says the Liberal Party is still the biggest loser in Turnbull’s exit:

Maybe the next generation — Paul Fletcher, Jamie Briggs, Greg Hunt, Scott Morrison, Kelly O’Dwyer — can chart an ideological path forward for the conservative side of politics, but only Turnbull looked up to the task, provided he could assert his leadership authority. Now we’ll never find out.

In a more personal piece on Crikey‘s The Stump blog, he also lamented the loss his retirement represents to Australian public life in an open letter:

I disagreed with any number of your policies – indeed, probably most of them – but I reckon you would have made a great Prime Minister.

Here are the rest of the offerings from the obituary section of today’s political pages:

The Australian

Peter van Onselen: Easter convinced a martyr there’d be no ressurection

… he craved to know whether his colleagues thought he had any chance of resuming the leadership in the aftermath of the next election

Paul Kelly: Too fast to stay on track for the prize

Turnbull leaves still having much to contribute to public life but without the necessary motivation to remain.

Sydney Morning Herald

Peter Hartcher: Turnbull: the final shame

Turnbull has turned out to be a political skyrocket, the firework that zooms to a great height in a great hurry then flares out and falls back to earth charred and burnt.

The Age

Tony Wright: Rich man, poor man

… one of the few Australian public figures who might properly be called a renaissance man

Daily Telegraph

Malcolm Farr: Too lively to sit quietly at the back and ruminate

Turnbull, a man well equipped by intellect, energy and experience to become prime minister, has realised that he never will have that job.

Courier Mail

Denis Atkins: Turnbull will be missed in the political bullring

In the end, the Liberal Party couldn’t find room at the top for a modern, progressive and creative thinker

ABC

Lyndal Curtis: ‘Force of nature’ says goodbye to politics

… he never got to run for, or be, prime minister. And he played a large part in his own downfall.

Greg Barns: Malcolm Turnbull’s small ‘l’ liberalism leaves big legacy

… he represented a brand of political values that is not found in either of the major political forces in this country today – liberalism with a small ‘l’.

Ben Atherton: Malcolm Turnbull: A political life

… he is not seen as the type of man who would find working on the backbench fulfilling.

Elsewhere…

Mark Westfield, Business Spectator: Turnbull: Goodbye to a true ‘Greenie’

… a genuine ‘environmentalist’ who believes the only way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is to put a price on it

Scott Bridges, Groupthink: Unfortunate that it came to this

If more people like Malcolm Turnbull stood up and gave it half the crack he did, this nation would be greater for it.

Grog’s Gamut: Turnbull — Burning out, and fading away

… he was never as good as everyone thought he could be