Names emerge of the politicians who signed a petition calling for a Liberal leadership spill

THE names of the 43 politicians who signed the petition to spark another Liberal leadership spill have been revealed.

PETER Dutton struggled against the odds to get 43 of his colleagues to sign a petition calling for a Liberal party room meeting and now their names have been published.

Many of the politicians were reluctant to put their name to the petition as they feared retribution but Malcolm Turnbull said he would not hold a party room meeting unless he received a petition with at least 43 names.

“These are momentous times and it’s important that people are accountable for what they’re doing,” Mr Turnbull said yesterday.

Once he got the petition, Mr Turnbull also insisted on verifying their position before he would agree to hold the meeting.

Herald Sun reporter Rob Harris tweeted a list of the names. They were:
1. Andrew Hastie

2. Tony Pasin

3. Craig Kelly

4. Michael Sukkar

5. Kevin Andrews

6. Tony Abbott

7. Ian Goodenough

8. Nicolle Flint

9. Peter Dutton

10. Jason Wood

11. Ross Vasta

12. Luke Howarth

13. Rick Wilson

14. Ted O’Brien

15. Zed Seselja

16 Greg Hunt

17 Steven Ciobo

18 Angus Taylor

19 Alan Tudge

20. Michael Keenan

21 Andrew Wallace

Peter Dutton was backed by Mathias Cormann. Picture: David Gray/AP

22 Scott Buchholz

23 Jim Molan

24 Slade Brockman

25 Dean Smith

26 Jane Hume

27 Mitch Fifield

28. John McVeigh

29. David Fawcett

30. Amanda Stoker

31. Jonathon Duniam

32. David Bushby

33. James Paterson

34 Eric Abetz

35. Concetta Fierravanti-Wells

36. James McGrath

37. Mathias Cormann

38. Michaelia Cash

39. Karen Andrews

40. Andrew Laming

41 Ben Morton

42. Sussan Ley

43. Warren Entsch (for Brendan Nelson)

In a tweet from Fairfax reporter Bevan Shields, images of the petition showed three Queensland MPs had made notes next to their names.

Warren Entsch wrote the number 43 next to his name, as he reportedly only agreed to sign the petition if it would get it over the line. Underneath he wrote it was “for Brendan Nelson”, who was voted Liberal leader after John Howard. Mr Turnbull undermined Mr Nelson’s position and eventually took over as leader.

Karen Andrews wrote “because this has to be resolved” next to her signature, while Scott Buchholz wrote “I support the office of the PM”.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s ‘the list’ of MPs who demanded the spill. More detail here: https://t.co/nF9MY5Aw7e #auspol #libspill pic.twitter.com/uxrSrbF9dY

— Bevan Shields (@BevanShields) August 24, 2018