Conservatives lash rebel Liberals over religious bill

Moderate Liberal MPs who crossed the floor to effec­tively scuttle the government’s religious discrimination bill ‘misled’ the Prime Minister.

Scott Morrison plays the ukulele for 60 Minutes.

Conservative Liberals have lashed out at the moderate MPs who crossed the floor to effec­tively scuttle the government’s religious discrimination bill, with Defence Minister Peter Dutton accusing the rebels of breaking an undertaking to Scott Morrison.

Mr Dutton ­accused Liberal MPs who crossed the floor on amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act of misleading the Prime Minister about their voting intentions.

“He was, frankly, I think misled,” he said. “I’m not sure how you want to describe it depending on your perspective of the situation, but there were undertakings that were given. The undertaking wasn’t honoured.”

Liberal MPs Trent Zimmerman and Bridget Archer had been open about potentially crossing the floor. Mr Morrison was surprised not to gain the support of Dave Sharma, Fiona Martin and Katie Allen in Thursday morning’s vote, which forced the government to cancel the bill from being debated in the Senate.

Mr Morrison believed he had the support of the MPs as a result of a late-night meeting on Wednesday with some Liberals including Ms Martin and Mr Sharma. Some MPs at the meeting believe assurances were given and the Prime Minister was “shafted’’. Mr Sharma denied he misled Mr Morrison. “My conscience is clear,” he said.

The failure of the bill to pass has increased internal divisions within the Liberals, with conservatives furious their compromise on net-zero by 2050 was not replicated by the moderate MPs on ­religious discrimination.

The vote was also a ­repudiation of Mr Morrison’s plea in Tuesday’s partyroom meeting for MPs to show unity on the bill, warning the election would be lost unless the Coalition came together.

Liberal MPs are growing increasingly frustrated with Mr Morrison’s leadership but believe it is too close to the election to consider whether the party would be better off under Mr Dutton or Josh Frydenberg.

Moderate Liberal MPs are furious Mr Morrison wasted ­crucial political capital so close to the election by trying to legislate the contentious religious discrimination bill, while conservative MPs are unhappy the Prime Minister was unable to secure enough support for the bill to pass.

“I just want to talk about the economy and national security,” one MP said.

Government MPs are divided on the government’s chances of winning the election, with some increasingly pessimistic. MPs played down the chance of a leadership change ahead of the likely May poll and are confident in Mr Morrison’s ability to campaign against ­Anthony Albanese.

“Everyone thinks it is too late (to change leader),” one MP said.

MPs say Mr Dutton or Mr Frydenberg would be the lead contenders to replace Mr Morrison as Liberal leader if the Coalition falls short at the election. “Dutton is in overdrive on leadership, raising his profile and all that sort of stuff,” one Liberal MP said.

Other MPs argue Mr Dutton is raising his profile with the ­intention of helping Mr Morrison portray Labor as a threat on ­national security.

Mr Morrison has faced a fortnight of mayhem, including ­backtracking from election commitments, leaks claiming he was overturned by cabinet on a proposal to negotiate with the crossbench to establish an anti-corruption agency, and text-message leaks of colleagues calling him a liar and a psycho.

In an attempt to recast his battered image, Mr Morrison has invited Nine Network’s 60 Minutes into The Lodge for an interview and an insight on his family life.

Mr Morrison said he believed he could pull off a “second coming” and win the election.

Footage released by Nine showed Mr Morrison playing Dragon’s 1970s classic April Sun in Cuba on the ukulele while sitting at the dining table with his wife Jenny and two daughters.

Assistant Attorney-General Amanda Stoker, writing in The Weekend Australian, criticised the moderate MPs, saying it was “ill-conceived” to support a Labor amendment to the SDA. “At the 11th hour, a motley collection of Labor, the Greens, some independents, and a handful of Liberal backbenchers derailed years of work with an amendment that would cause havoc for faith-based coeducational and single-sex schools,’’ she writes.