Gabrielle Chan, Daniel Hurst and Shalailah Medhora
Monday 2 February 2015
Social services minister defends prime minister amid speculation of a spill and urges Coalition members to stay focused
Scott Morrison, one of three potential candidates to replace Tony Abbott, says he has no interest in becoming leader of the Coalition, but did not deny he had been approached.
The social services minister defended the prime minister, who overnight made structural changes to improve consultation and assuage angry backbenchers in the hope of heading off a challenge.
As pressure mounted on Abbott to prove himself after the Coalition’s disastrous Queensland result, Morrison said it was important to remain focused on “why the people put you there in the first place”.
Asked whether he had been approached about the leadership, Morrison said: “I wouldn’t describe it like that.”
He described the mention of him as a potential candidate as “fantasy football speculation”, saying: “I would never challenge Tony Abbott.
“I accept we have big political problems; the policy problem is the one we are focused on and we have got to do better on the politics and that’s up to all ministers, all members of the government, not just the prime minister.”
The two main leadership contenders, the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, and the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, urged people to focus on Abbott’s speech to the press club, due at 12.30pm on Monday.
“The only thing we should be interested in on the political front today is the prime minister’s speech to the National Press Club in a few hours,” said Turnbull, who has been out of the country for the past week of turmoil.
“He’s going to be laying out his agenda for the future and I think everyone will be tuned in to that so that’s where we should be concentrating and that’s certainly what I’ll be paying attention to today.”
Bishop also said Abbott had her full support and said the prime minister would outline “a strategic direction for us in the lead-up to the next election”.
In the addressAbbott will axe his paid parental leave policy and commit to further changes to national security laws.
Under the new structural arrangements, the full ministry will meet with cabinet once a month instead of quarterly.
Ministers will also have to attend backbench policy committee meetings to ensure cabinet is more responsive to backbenchers. A backbench policy advisory group will be established to develop ideas.
Morrison praised government backbenchers as “doing a great job” and said Abbott’s office and ministry changes were a sign he was listening.
“I think that’s an honest reflection by the PM, and I think government members will welcome that,” Morrison said.
“This is an iterative process, and I think there has been significant iteration today.
“I think it’s important that he has good processes that connect us to the ground, and ... the government members are critical for that process.”
The agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, appeared to urge his Liberal colleagues not to change leaders.
“The way you test the character of a government is its mechanisms, its capacity and its characters who forge through that,” Joyce said. “You don’t sink the ship as a mechanism to try to find a better place in the ocean to swim.”
The assistant treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said Abbott had the strong support of his colleagues and the Liberals were “a lot better than the Labor party”.
“They would rotate leaders like a game of pass the parcel,” said Frydenberg. “We’re talking about the prime ministership of Australia, not the leadership of a local branch. The Liberal party has never tossed a PM in their first term, ever since its foundation, and I don’t think we should start now.”
Other MPs described Monday’s speech in Canberra as a crucial moment for Abbott to demonstrate a way forward, amid doubts he could turn the government’s fortunes around.
It is understood he will nominate the families package alongside a “small-business and jobs package”, “further strengthening of national security laws”, and changes to the operation of the Foreign Investment Review Board.
