Liberal leadership meeting to decide who takes reins as Prime Minister of Australia

A three-cornered fight featuring a glamorous foreign minister, a former copper and a religious family man will determine who takes Malcolm Turnbull’s job and becomes Australia’s 30th prime minister. Mr Turnbull said he would only walk away from The Lodge if Mr Dutton could produce the petition by noon today.

A three-cornered fight featuring a glamorous Foreign Minister, a former copper and a religious family man who loves his footy and resonates with Middle Australia will today determine who takes Malcolm Turnbull’s job as Prime Minister.

Supporters of ex-Queensland ­policeman Peter Dutton, whose closer-than-predicted defeat on Tuesday precipitated the Liberal leadership chaos, claimed last night he was the frontrunner commanding 48 of the 84 votes in the party room.

But Treasurer Scott Morrison, ­affectionately known as “ScoMo”, was attempting to shore up the backing of the party’s moderates who supported Mr Turnbull along with some conservative colleagues to break through as a consensus candidate.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was late into the race, creating a three-way fight and throwing the moderates into a panic that the leadership ballot would end like 2009 when Tony ­Abbott narrowly ousted Mr Turnbull as Opposition Leader.

Peter Dutton and Mathias Cormann have dinner at Portia's Place restaurant in Kingston on Thursday night. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Since Mr Dutton stood against Mr Turnbull on Tuesday then moved to the backbench, the 47-year-old has ­attempted a speedy image makeover.

The father-of-three has talked about his family and begun to put together a policy platform based on reducing cost of living pressure by slashing the GST from power bills and investigating fuel prices.

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Mr Dutton has also flagged cutting immigration and putting more money into health, education and aged care.

The former home affairs minister believes he is the best option for the party to beat Bill Shorten because he can satisfy the party’s conservative base. Supporters say his leadership would prevent a potential landslide against the LNP in Queensland and stop the leaking of votes to Pauline Hanson in WA and Western Sydney.

Treasurer Scott Morrison, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and leadership challenger Peter Dutton leave Parliament after a vote to refer Mr Dutton to the High Court.

But critics who say he lacks charisma label him the “most unpopular politician in Australia” as a result of his tough approach to border protection and immigration. His success in those key policy areas, however, is where his backers believe he will have a powerful political message and pitch to voters where Mr Turnbull could not.

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If Mr Dutton becomes leader, Labor will hone its attack on his time as health minister when he proposed the $7 fee for GP visits, as well as his conservative values including his decision to vote “no” to same-sex marriage and to abstain when Kevin Rudd made the apology in Parliament to the ­Stolen Generations.

Peter Dutton steps into a brisk Canberra morning to start the ball rolling on sensational press conferences on Thursday. Picture: Kym Smith

But Mr Dutton is no stranger to taking on the Left as he is considered the number one enemy of activist group GetUp! and has succeeded against brutal campaigning in his seat of Dickson in the outer northwestern suburbs of Brisbane. Mr Morrison’s pitch to colleagues will be about providing stability in the face of chaos through a smooth transition.

As Treasurer he has been able to steer the government toward a long list of economic successes. He is also the only candidate that has had success on both the economy and national security. After all, he was the man to “stop the boats”.

Yet critics say that despite the government’s economic success story the ­Coalition’s inability to advance in the polls means the message is failing.

Liberal moderates Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison and Julie Bishop walk to the House of Representatives Chamber after losing support of three ministers. Picture: Ray Strange.

Mr Morrison is also considered to be the Turnbull-lite option and would be unlikely to overhaul the government’s policy platform.

He is a practising Christian, and backers believe the father-of-two ­relates to Australians most easily of the three contenders because he is the most like them (for instance, he still has a home mortgage).

“ScoMo is Middle Australia. He supports a footy team, he goes to matches, he eats pies,” one backer told The Daily Telegraph.

Treasurer Scott Morrison is considered to be the Turnbull-lite option. Picture: Kym Smith

While Mr Morrison is considered part of the centre-right faction he has moderate support because he was ­instrumental in the coup against Mr Abbott.

Ms Bishop will insist that her popularity will give the Coalition the best chance of saving marginal seats.

Detractors say that as Foreign ­Affairs Minister for the past five years she also has limited experience with difficult domestic issues.

Ms Bishop’s advocates say she will not back away from her time spent globetrotting and will argue her experience as an admired international saleswoman can translate on home soil.

Other criticisms include that her penchant for expensive outfits and earrings make it impossible for her to relate to everyday voters.

Moderate sources hope either Ms Bishop or Mr Morrison will drop out of the race to ensure there is a clear choice between their chosen candidate and Mr Dutton.