Peter Dutton circling the Liberal leadership and could challenge Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday
A MORTALLY wounded Malcolm Turnbull is in full crisis mode frantically fighting to hold onto the prime ministership by trashing unpopular policies and begging for support as Peter Dutton circles preparing to launch a challenge.
NSW
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MALCOLM Turnbull is in full-blown crisis mode — fighting to hold onto the prime ministership as Peter Dutton circles the leadership and prepares to launch a challenge.
Mr Dutton told his supporters last night he was still to decide if he will pull the trigger and challenge Mr Turnbull in today’s Liberal party room meeting or continue to build support over the coming fortnight before striking in mid-September.
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In a bid to survive a leadership coup, Mr Turnbull has abandoned his most contentious policies — dropping an emissions target from the National Energy Guarantee, excluding the big four banks from company tax cuts and The Daily Telegraph can reveal he is also preparing to take a more hard line position on immigration.
But the campaign to overturn Mr Turnbull’s leadership has gone beyond energy policy, with senior conservatives complaining to the Prime Minister about his “leftie-office” and accusing him of failing to land a glove on Labor leader Bill Shorten — one of the most unpopular Labor leaders in the party’s history.
“He looks like he’s in panic mode,” a senior figure said. “The reaction to the (NEG) announcement has been disbelief.
“The Prime Minister is clearly rattled and he’s worried that the numbers are peeling off him.”
The Turnbull and Dutton camps were both scrambling for support among factional leaders and MPs yesterday ahead of a 9am meeting that both sides say could potentially turn into a leadership showdown that would seal the fate of the PM.
A senior source backing the Home Affairs Minister said the numbers were looking “good”, phone calls were being made and a judgment will be made this morning about whether there was enough support for a leadership spill or whether to wait until Parliament returns on September 10.
And if conservatives are certain they have the numbers, it will be Mr Dutton who calls a leadership spill rather than a backbencher like Kevin Andrews.
“The only option available is for Dutton to do it. He’s not interested in anyone else doing it for him,” the source said.
The support for Mr Dutton ranged from Cabinet level to backbenchers across NSW, Victoria, Queensland and WA. A conservative MP said that if he decides “it’s on” there will be a raft of frontbench resignations.
“Malcolm Turnbull can’t win the next election but the Coalition can,” the MP said.
But the MP also labelled it a “$100,000 question” for Mr Dutton and his family because if he called for a spill and failed then he would lose his Cabinet portfolio and have to move to the backbench, taking a salary hit.
LNP president Gary Spence has also walked away from supporting the Prime Minister and has spoken to six Queensland MPs and Senators to encourage them to shift their support to Mr Dutton or risk losing half of the party’s 21 seats at the next federal election.
In private conversations which took place on the weekend, Mr Spence said the LNP could retain all 21 seats under Mr Dutton and be in with a chance to pick up Herbert from Labor and even Bob Katter’s seat of Kennedy.
The conservative forces mounting Mr Dutton’s campaign to become Prime Minister have also drawn up a plan to return Tony Abbott to Cabinet in a prestigious portfolio like Home Affairs or Defence.
He would be tasked with being the Dutton Government’s chief attack dog where he would lead an effective and ruthless campaign against Mr Shorten.
Mr Abbott’s role would also be to raise money, galvanise the base and build morale with the membership and party divisions which, according to conservatives, feel bruised from the way Mr Turnbull has treated them.
But a coup could also see Cabinet ministers like Christopher Pyne and potentially Julie Bishop quit immediately — sparking a federal election because the Government would lose its one-seat majority.
While Turnbull supporters indicated he, too, could quit his seat of Wentworth if he was rolled, The Daily Telegraph understands he would not cause this sort of destruction for a Liberal Government ahead of an election.
National Party rebels, led by a resurgent Barnaby Joyce, have been playing a significant role behind-the-scenes in campaigning against Mr Turnbull’s energy policy.
Yesterday, Mr Turnbull put on a calm front, saying he was “very” confident he had the support of his colleagues.
He confirmed the report in The Daily Telegraph yesterday that Mr Dutton had told him he still backed him.
“He has given me his absolute support,” he said.
There was anger at Ms Bishop, who is the deputy Liberal leader, for staying out of the leadership and energy fray for four days.
She finally expressed her support for the Prime Minister late yesterday.
“I certainly believe Malcolm Turnbull will lead us to the next election,” she said.
“I believe he has the vast majority of the party room behind him.”
Education Minister Simon Birmingham insisted Mr Turnbull had support from the majority of the party room and urged a “handful of troublemakers” to pull their heads in.
“Peter (Dutton) made a very clear public statement of support for the prime minister and the policies of the government — I take that at its word,” he said. Mr Pyne said he supported Mr Turnbull “100 per cent”.
“But of course, everyone loves a leadership story in this building and in this town,” he added. Treasurer Scott Morrison denied there was any leadership issue.
Mr Abbott said his concerns were not over personality clashes with Mr Turnbull. “It’s not about him (Mr Turnbull), it’s not about me … It’s about policy,” Mr Abbott said.
“The only way we can win the next election is to have a contest over policy not personalities.”