'He's just not one of us': Conservatives explain Turnbull's turmoil

When Malcolm Turnbull laid siege to the sitting Liberal MP Peter King in a bruising pre-selection battle for Wentworth in 2004, the republican frontman received votes from an unlikely group: pro-monarchy women.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at a press conference at Parliament House on Wednesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Conservative Liberal preselectors concluded that, despite his obvious progressive leanings, Mr Turnbull was better than the incumbent.

Key to that early victory was Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, an avowed monarchist, leading figure in the NSW Liberal Party' right faction, and until 24 hours ago, a member of the Prime Minister's executive.

Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells takes her seat on the backbench during debate in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Senator Fierravanti-Wells quit on Tuesday claiming the Turnbull government was ignoring its conservative base and bleeding support on its right flank, as it drifted "further and further" to the left under Mr Turnbull's moderate leadership.

Her resignation letter noted widespread conservative umbrage over last year's same-sex marriage reform, and her own disappointment at Mr Turnbull's failure to take a harder line against China's growing economic influence in the Pacific.

Yet other prominent conservatives say the claim that marriage reform represented a betrayal of  conservative values, was itself a narrow view of the Liberal Party's conservative tradition.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells was one of 10 ministers and assistant ministers to tender or offer their resignations to the Prime Minister in the fevered hours after Tuesday's explosive leadership ballot in which Peter Dutton secured 35 votes to Mr Turnbull's 48.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells argues the "broad church" of the Liberal Party led by John Howard has drifted to the left, pandering to progressive causes. She is far from alone.

Yet for all its passion, the case against Mr Turnbull appears to be more one of the "vibe" than of detailed argument. Complaints from conservatives contacted by Fairfax Media on Wednesday boiled down to "Malcolm's not one of us, not a creature of the Liberal Party".

Senator Dean Smith. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

While the current leadership meltdown was touched off by the Tony Abbott-led rebellion over the proposed national energy guarantee - now defunct - even Turnbull supporters acknowledge the issue was proxy - merely one of several grievances coalescing around Mr Turnbull since the shock of the Longman byelection in July.

The prominent West Australian conservative senator, Dean Smith, agreed there are genuine concerns about what he called the "narrowing" of the party's base.

"The party's organisation must always maintain a regime that keeps the membership of the party big, active and broad," he told Fairfax Media.

"When the party membership is big, active and broad, then parliamentarians, who are always responsive to the organisation, will have big, active and broad outlooks. It's the narrowing of the party base and the ageing of the base, that has made us less representative and less electable in the community's eyes."

But he dismissed the complaint over marriage reform as "shallow".

"To see the problems through the lens of same-sex marriage, for example, is a shallow and one-dimensional view of our electoral challenge - people are looking for clear statement of convictions, even if they're unpopular, clear statement of values, and they want to see those imported into policy".

The conservative argument for installing Mr Dutton in Mr Turnbull's place is complicated by multiple perspectives.

Senator Smith backed Mr Dutton on Tuesday and remains in that camp. But he left little doubt that the leadership contender had made a serious "error of judgment" in proposing to remove the GST from household energy bills.

"The GST plan that Turnbull and Scott Morrison have achieved is the biggest piece of federal-state reform in the 20 years of the GST arrangements," Senator Smith said.

"The effort that was required in achieving that outcome should be a powerful reminder to people that GST issues are highly sensitive, highly problematic, and shouldn't be referred to at whim ... it was an error of judgment."