The Federal Opposition is looking increasingly unlikely to move a no-confidence motion against the Government, with key independents dismissing the Coalition's latest moves to secure their support as "pathetic" and a "stunt".
Manager of Opposition Business Christopher Pyne has written a "firmly worded letter" to the independents asking them whether they would support such a motion, which could force an early election on August 3.
Mr Pyne says he will only proceed with the motion in the remaining three weeks of the parliamentary sitting if the independent MPs say they will back it.
Key points
- A successful motion of no confidence would force the Government to resign
- The tactic has never been successful in Australia
- But governments have resigned in the past after losing votes on crucial pieces of legislation
- Tony Abbott moved to suspend standing orders to debate a motion of no confidence after Labor's leadership stoush in March
- That failed, so the actual motion of no confidence was never moved
- The only time a motion of no confidence in a PM was successful was on November 11 1975 after the dismissal of the Whitlam government
- The House agreed to a motion of no confidence in the new PM Malcolm Fraser
- But the sitting was suspended and never resumed because the Governor-General dissolved the House
"If they come back and say forget it, well we're not going to waste everyone's time," he told Channel Nine this morning.
"That's why I've written to them to see what their position is, and I think we'll see what their response is by next week."
But independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor have criticised Mr Pyne for releasing the letter to the media before they had received it.
"My first response is, how pathetic," Mr Oakeshott said.
"If Mr Abbott and Mr Pyne, and his colleagues truly believe this to be the worst government in the history of the world, and their alternative option as the key to world peace, then I invite them to put their case on the floor of the Parliament."
Mr Oakeshott says Mr Pyne is "grovelling to the crossbench".
And he will not reveal his position unless the Coalition introduces the motion.
Fellow independent Tony Windsor has suggested the Coalition is either "frightened" or "embarrassed" to bring it on.
In March, after Labor's aborted leadership challenge, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott flagged that he would move a no-confidence motion during budget week.
But earlier this month he declared the Coalition would move the motion in the current sitting fortnight.
"May is over and still there is no sign of the no-confidence motion," Mr Windsor said.
Mr Windsor says he is more than happy for the confidence of the House to be tested, and has not ruled out testing that himself, either alone or in conjunction with other crossbenchers.
"It would be a worthwhile exercise as we draw to the conclusion of the Parliament for MPs to express their views on its performance," Mr Windsor said.
In his letter to the independents, Mr Pyne writes that: "I think I would be entitled to take an equivocal response as marking your determination to support the government and the current Prime Minister to the bitter end."
"If after three years of disasters and broken promises crossbench members can't decide definitively now on whether or not they continue to support the Labor Government, then their answer is pretty clear," Mr Pyne said in a statement to the ABC.
Lead of the House Anthony Albanese has dismissed the threat of a no-confidence motion as nonsense.
