Tony Abbott: Leadership drama heightened
Nick Efstathiadis

By Chris Uhlmann, Eliza Borrello and Melissa Clarke

4 February 2015

Tony Abbott Photo: Senior ministers have come out in support for the Prime Minister. (AAP: Alan Porritt)

Related Story: Entsch plans resolution of Abbott leadership drama

Video: Tony Abbott campaigning to save his job (7.30)

A backbench revolt in the Liberal Party could unseat the Prime Minister within a week.

Three MPs last night publicly disavowed their leader in what appears to be a chaotic but coordinated campaign to force a spill in the party when it meets on Tuesday.

The organic insurrection is not being encouraged, nor discouraged, by the only credible leadership aspirants, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

West Australian MP Dennis Jensen was first to break ranks, telling the ABC he had informed Mr Abbott that he no longer enjoyed his support.

Dr Jensen said the Prime Minister should be replaced as soon as possible because the Coalition was "not governing as we should be".

"There is no strategic direction, the policy is not consistent and coherent," Dr Jensen said.

He was quickly joined by Queensland backbencher Warren Entsch, who said he would seek a "resolution" to the issue at the next party room meeting.

"This speculation has to stop and we need to have a situation where there's a whole-of-government approach," he said.

"It's about leadership, it's certainly about leadership."

Fellow Queenslander Mal Brough said he could not offer the Prime Minister "unequivocal" support and agreed the party should resolve the matter swiftly.

The ABC has spoken to other MPs who back the revolt. They claim there is a large group prepared to support a spill motion.

One believed it was "a substantial majority". That is dismissed by senior ministers.

Video: Peter Dutton speaks with Leigh Sales (7.30)

Cabinet met on Tuesday and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said it was unanimous in its support for Mr Abbott.

"I think at the moment if people are going out to sabotage this PM, then it really has all of the hallmarks of the worst period presided over by Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd and I don't think that's in our best interests," he said.

"I don't think it's in the country's best interest and I think frankly at the moment the PM should be given the opportunity to demonstrate what he enunciated in his speech at the Press Club, that he has a very strong plan for the country."

Revolt not being encouraged, nor discouraged by Bishop, Turnbull

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said he backed the Prime Minister and ruled out putting his name forward should a spill eventuate.

"I don't play fantasy football, I'm not a contender in any way, shape or form under any circumstance," he said.

Video: Abbott does not have my support: Dennis Jensen (ABC News)

Ms Bishop is a contender but at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting she repeated a commitment she had given to the Prime Minister in the early afternoon, declaring she was not counting numbers and would not challenge.

But she did tell her colleagues she had had a very frank and private conversation with the Prime Minister about his leadership.

Mr Turnbull has not been asked for such a pledge, nor has he volunteered one.

While neither Ms Bishop nor Mr Turnbull is courting change, they are not discouraging it and both will be contenders should there be a leadership spill because, once it is called on, they are not, technically, challenging: they are applying for a vacancy.

Strategists worried about impact on NSW election campaign

Party officials across the eastern seaboard have told the ABC that MPs' concerns are being driven by the dire feedback they are getting from the grassroots.

MPs from South Australia and Western Australia say the ill feeling towards the Prime Minister is shared by party members in their states.

"I don't think that Tony appreciates that support in the membership [for him] has collapsed across the country," one Victorian said.

Analysis from The Drum

With the New South Wales election is less than eight weeks away, campaign strategists for Premier Mike Baird are worried about how they will handle the Prime Minister in the wake of the catastrophic result in Queensland.

"You can tell the Prime Minister not to campaign in Queensland and you can tell him not to campaign in Victoria, how do you tell him not to go home?" an official said.

It is understood Trade Minister Andrew Robb is in conversations with colleagues about how to settle on a consensus candidate without a bloody party room brawl.

Other "wise heads" are cautioning their colleagues against rushing headlong into a change which might not solve anything.

However, the rebel MPs are convinced that the public feeling against the Prime Minister is personal and visceral and the shape of any new team matters less than getting rid of Mr Abbott.

Credlin a noticeable absentee from Cabinet meeting

There is a growing feeling, even among some of the party's right, that Mr Turnbull is the most fully formed public figure and offers the Coalition its best hope of electoral redemption.

The concern is that he will alienate the conservative wing and that he must make some policy undertakings to be acceptable, particularly ruling out trying to return to an emissions trading system.

His supporters point out that Mr Turnbull has already essentially endorsed the current policy, telling Q&A last year that "emissions trading schemes had worked better in theory than in practice", and that direct action should be given a chance to see if it worked, and then reviewed.

One notable absentee from Tuesday's Cabinet meeting was Mr Abbott's high-profile chief of staff, Peta Credlin.

Ms Credlin has been a fixture at the meetings throughout the tenure of the Abbott Government and that has irked some ministers.

Her absence was intended to send the message that the Prime Minister was making concessions and was prepared to change.

But as many in the party have now observed, this is no longer about whether a staffer keeps her job. It is now about whether the Prime Minister survives.

More on this story:
From other news sites:

Tony Abbott: Leadership drama heightened as Dennis Jensen, Warren Entsch, Mal Brough break ranks against Prime Minister - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

|