Malcolm Turnbull calls for Liberal Party unity after Peter Dutton leadership challenge
PETER Dutton struck a surprising tone as he responded to his defeat. But a hidden message could spell the end for Turnbull.
A MOTION of no confidence in Malcolm Turnbull has been defeated at 67-76.
Labor leader Bill Shorten sought to move a motion in parliament expressing no confidence in the Prime Minister, saying he “has no authority, no power, and no policies”.
It follows a tumultuous day for the PM, after he survived a leadership challenge from Peter Dutton, winning a party-room vote 48-35 and forcing his rival to resign from cabinet.
DUTTON ADDRESSES SHOCK LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE
Peter Dutton has spoken out about this morning’s shock leadership challenge but the real hints were in what he did not say.
While he thanked his colleagues and said he had no animosity towards Malcolm Turnbull, Mr Dutton unleashed a devastating blow: He implied that Mr Turnbull could not win against Bill Shorten at the next election.
Mr Dutton kicked off his press conference with a telling comment: “It is good to be in front of the cameras where I can smile and maybe show a different side to what I show when I talk about border protection.”
The remark implies that Mr Dutton, who resigned from his home affairs portfolio after he lost a a party-room vote 48-35, is keen to broaden his appeal in the electorate beyond just being known as the immigration strongman.
He went on to list his political achievements in a way that sounded much like a resume.
But he refused to rule out challenging for the prime ministership again.
“I respect the view of the party room and accept that outcome and I will do whatever I can now to make sure that we are in a position to win the next election and to make sure that Bill Shorten never becomes prime minister,” he said.
Mr Dutton said he challenged Mr Turnbull not because of any animosity towards him.
“I made a decision not because I had any animosity towards Malcolm Turnbull. I made a decision to contest this ballot because I want to make sure we can keep Bill Shorten from ever being prime minister of this country,” he said.
“I am not going to provide critiques. The critique I am willing to provide is in relation to Bill Shorten because I think he is unfit to be prime minister of this country. I will make sure that I can do all I can to make certain that the Coalition wins the next election.”
TURNBULL’S REACTION TO ‘HUMILIATION’
Malcolm Turnbull has pleaded for unity in the Liberal Party after this morning’s “humiliating” leadership challenge that saw him dramatically lose support from members.
In a defiant showing, Mr Turnbull has fronted up to the media in seemingly good spirits, flanked by deputy leader Julie Bishop, who was able to keep her role unchallenged.
Mr Turnbull said he did not bear any grudge against Peter Dutton, who resigned from his Home Affairs Minister position after he lost his challenge for the top job.
Treasurer Scott Morrison will take on Mr Dutton’s portfolio while the latter moves to the backbench, where he can continue to agitate for the leadership.
“I thanked Peter Dutton for his outstanding service as home affairs minister,” Mr Turnbull told reporters.
“I have invited him to continue in that office. We have had a good discussion about it in my office. He said to me that he doesn’t feel he can remain in the cabinet having challenged me to the leadership of the party, and so he is resigning.”
Mr Turnbull said the Liberal party room had confirmed their faith in his and Ms Bishop’s leadership after he won a party-room vote 48-35.
“We know that instability undermines the ability of any government to get anything done,” he said.
“Unity is critical. We cannot allow as I said in the party room today, our internal issues to undermine our work, to create a risk, a real risk, that Bill Shorten will be the prime minister.
“United we will maintain the strong momentum and the great achievements our government has made.”
MORE: Who are the 35 who turned on Malcolm Turnbull?
MORE: Shock vote proves Malcolm Turnbull is dead man walking
Mr Turnbull said Mr Shorten would bring higher taxes, energy prices, a slower economy, fewer jobs and lower wages.
The Prime Minister refused to reveal what happened in the secret ballot or whether members who voted against him should resign.
“It is a secret ballot. My job is to do everything I can to ensure that we are united and work together,” Mr Turnbull said.
“As you know, I don’t bear any grudge against Peter Dutton for having stood up and challenged me today.
“It is really important that we put these sort of these differences … behind us and get on with our job of looking after the 25 million Australians who have put us here.
“They hate it when we are talking about each other, political dramas.”
Ms Bishop said the vote showed overwhelming support for Mr Turnbull.
“I have seen leadership challenges before and this was a resounding vote of support in the leadership team,” she said.
“We don’t take it for granted, but what I say to all those who didn’t vote for the Prime Minister, we now have the opportunity to focus on what the electorate want to hear from us. And that is we are directing all our energies, all our efforts into lower taxes, lower
costs, particularly energy costs, and more jobs in the Australian people. That is what we are going to continue to deliver.”
I've worked in kitchens & I know that no matter how hard you scrub or try to make a rotten potato palatable you cannot remove the poison.
— MarkJacka (@themarkjacka) August 21, 2018
The only place for rotten potatoes is in the bin. #auspol
Just one question on #Dutton
— Dingbat Ronnie (@PRonny50) August 21, 2018
Just exactly what has he done for all Australians to make their lives better that would support his bid for PM?#auspol #crickets
‘HUMILIATION’ FOR TURNBULL
Malcolm Turnbull has survived a “humiliating” leadership challenge from Peter Dutton, winning a party-room vote 48-35 and forcing his rival to resign from cabinet.
While Mr Turnbull has won the day, the battle for the leadership of the party is not over.
Mr Dutton will move from the Home Affairs Minister position he lobbied hard to create to the backbench, where he is likely to continue to agitate for the leadership.
Mr Turnbull declared his top position in the Liberal Party vacant at a party-room meeting this morning in a shock tactic that saved him but came at a massive cost.
The tight vote means 40 per cent of the Liberal Party do not want Turnbull to continue as leader and has increased the chance of a rushed election before Christmas.
Mr Dutton put his hand up to challenge Mr Turnbull for the top job after the PM’s risky move to take control of the party.
The deputy leadership was also declared vacant, but Julie Bishop was the only person nominated so hung on to her role.
Mr Turnbull offered for Mr Dutton to remain in cabinet and keep his job of Home Affairs, but he declined the offer, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Mr Dutton visited Mr Turnbull in the ministerial wing of Parliament House shortly before the formal meeting.
Sky News political editor David Speers said the fact that 35 of his party members voted against Mr Turnbull was a “humiliation” for him.
“In Parliament, he’s going to be standing there in front of a backbench, a third, nearly half of whom don’t support him,” he said.
“Incredibly difficult to see how Malcolm Turnbull can recover from this.”
While the challenge over the prime ministership was ostensibly about energy policy, the true source of the leadership tensions goes much deeper.
Mr Dutton was seen as an alternative leader who could better represent the conservative wing of the party, which is not interested in locking Australia into ambitious carbon emissions cuts.
MORE: Who is Peter Dutton
MORE: Expect another challenge from Dutton
BREAKING I’m now told Turnbull is weighing up calling an election rather than risk another challenge.
— Laura Jayes (@ljayes) August 21, 2018
The reaction from one backbencher “F@$k me dead. We’ll get annihilatedâ€@SkyNewsAust
Mr Turnbull has reportedly said there would be no early election and he had not considered it.
Former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce has reportedly reached out to Mr Turnbull offering his “help”, according to Sky News.
Chief government whip Nola Marino announced the close margin in the votes after the tense party room meeting.
“It is always orderly in our party room,” Ms Marino said.
“He (the PM) thanked the colleagues for their support.”
Commentators have declared the troubled result for the PM as a “mortal wounding”, securing support of more than 40 per cent of the party room.
Mr Dutton’s resignation means Mr Turnbull will have to reshuffle his cabinet, with commentators predicting a second leadership ballot in the weeks or months ahead.
The move also raises questions over whether any of Mr Dutton’s allies could stand down.
If he had won today’s spill he would have become Australia’s sixth prime minister in just eight years.
Mr Turnbull won his spill against Tony Abbott in September 2015 when he won by a margin of 10 votes, 54 to 44.
Julia Gillard won her first challenge from Kevin Rudd who was only about to collect support from about 30 per cent of his colleagues. Ms Gillard was defeated in the second spill.
Bob Hawke won his first ballot with 60 per cent of the vote to lose the second challenge.
ABC’s Patricia Karvelas said the result was devastating for Mr Turnbull and could spark another leadership challenge in days.
“I’ve had contact with some of the people doing numbers and building support for Peter Dutton who are saying that as close as Thursday, yes — it’s Tuesday — that’s in two days, they may have another shot,” she said.
“Because they feel like the Prime Minister didn’t give them time, that it wasn’t necessarily a very fair process for them to build their numbers,” she said.
“It is devastating for the Prime Minister. There’s no other way of viewing it.”
ABC political journalist Barrie Cassidy said Mr Turnbull adopted his “tactic” for everyone to see.
“Why did he declare the position vacant today? And surely, that is because he knew that three weeks from now, there would be two more terrible Newspolls, it would give Peter Dutton lots of time to make all of those calls and to round up the numbers, so he decided to strike today,” Cassidy said.
“But then by doing that, he’s just exposed the weaknesses of his position. You can’t … even putting aside who wins this particular ballot, you can’t claim to have the 35 people voting against you.”
Peter #Dutton has lost the #LibSpill
— Kon Karapanagiotidis (@Kon__K) August 20, 2018
That means he’s gone as Minister for Home Affairs! (He’ll challenge again)
But there’s still 1600 refugees on #Manus and #Nauru
Still 119 kids on #Nauru
Our work is far from over
It’s a whole system we need to get rid of not 1 man #auspol
So we’re now officially left with a PM who won’t last the year I guess #auspol #libspill
— Margot Fink 💙 (@margot_fink) August 21, 2018
Mr Abbott tweeted a clarification of reporters earlier being briefed that MP Warren Entsch was getting stuck into him in the party room, as it happened. There were reports Mr Entsch’s speech was met with some claps.
“Unlike too many of my colleagues, my practice is to take responsibility for what I think and say,” he said.
“The put the Entsch intervention into context, I had just said to the party room that exhortations from the leadership group about loyalty and united were all very well but united has to be created and loyalty has to be earned. They can’t just be demanded.”
Nationals frontbencher Darren Chester said he encouraged his colleagues to back Mr Turnbull to finish the job he started.
“Now it’s time to back the Prime Minister, let’s keep getting the job done,” he said.
“Malcolm Turnbull continues to lead the Coalition to the next election....and will win.
Asked whether frontbenchers who did not support Mr Turnbull should resign, Mr Chester said they should consider their future.
“Individual front and back benchers make decisions about their career every day of the week,” he said.
“I would simply say to my colleagues the circus has to stop.
“He’s won the right to continue as PM and that should be the end of the matter.”
Mr Chester ruled out the second strike theory being floated.
WHAT LED TO THE VOTE?
Malcolm Turnbull’s support in the Liberal party room has collapsed in recent weeks, with poor polling and his ambitious energy policy causing leadership tension.
Mr Turnbull gutted two of his own signature policies in the past 24 hours in an effort to save himself, removing the carbon emissions target from the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) and depriving the Big Four banks of his company tax cuts.
A senior source told The Daily Telegraph Mr Turnbull was “in panic mode” and “clearly rattled” amid reports Mr Dutton was considering launching a challenge.
Mr Turnbull has previously cited Tony Abbott’s 30 straight defeats in the poll as one of the main reasons for toppling the former prime minister.
One of Mr Turnbull’s loyal supporters, Defence Industry Minister Chris Pyne, steadfastly denied a challenge was imminent during an interview on Sky News this morning.
Mr Pyne said he had spoken to Mr Dutton daily and he was “loyal and supportive” of Mr Turnbull.
“This instability, this constant revolving door of the leadership, is not good for the country,” he said.
“I have spoken to him directly and he has told me he supports Malcolm Turnbull.
“If you have different information directly from the horse’s mouth, say so. If it’s just other people talking on Peter Dutton’s behalf then they are cowards.”
Mr Pyne said people would be “horrified” if the government changed leaders again.
“I think the Australian public would throw up their hands and say you guys in Canberra are playing games,” he said.
Can we please just go to an immediate election. Really done with not voting for the people who become PM. #auspol
— Thomas Dryburgh 🌈 (@TomDryburgh) August 21, 2018
WHAT’S NEXT?
• Malcolm Turnbull must reshuffle his ministry, with a number of frontbenchers expected to go to the backbench.
• The prime minister must rebuild bridges with the 35 Liberal MPs who voted against him.
• With the corporate tax cuts laws likely to fail in the Senate and the National Energy Guarantee shelved, Turnbull needs a fresh economic agenda.
• Peter Dutton’s forces could consolidate and have another crack, as has occurred in past leadership spills.
• Parliament wraps up for the week on Thursday and does not return until September 10.
• The federal election is due by May 2019, but Turnbull may be tempted to call it within weeks in a bid to sharply focus the minds of Liberal MPs, unify the party and ensure no further bloodletting.
• The PM heads to South-East Asia next week for trade and security talks.
• Labor has led 38 Newspolls in a row, but Turnbull has maintained a strong lead as preferred prime minister.
- with AAP
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