Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership on knife edge as rebel numbers swell

The backbench rebellion against Malcolm Turnbull has spread as ministers last night gathered for an emergency meeting.

Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull in Forbes before last night’s Canberra meeting. Picture: Susan Hodge

The leadership crisis engulfing Malcolm Turnbull has deepened, with cabinet ministers privately accusing the Prime Minister of cobbling together his plan to cap retail power prices in a last-minute bid to save his leadership.

LIVE: Follow the unfolding events in Canberra in our PoliticsNow blog.

The backbench rebellion, which broke out last week, spread, as ministers last night weighed up the future viability of Mr Turnbull’s signature policy, the national energy guarantee, in an emergency meeting at Parliament House called by the Prime Minister.

The Australian is aware that a number of MPs called Home ­Affairs Minister and leading Queensland conservative Peter Dutton at the weekend to pledge support should he seek to challenge Mr Turnbull.

It is understood cabinet ministers last night also discussed a sol­ution to the company tax issue, which has become politically unsaleable for the government, with the bill to be forced to a vote in the Senate as early as today.

With the division in the ­Coalition partyroom widening, several cabinet ministers were furious last night that there were no details of the new energy policy supplied ahead of the cabinet dinner. Ministers did not know whether they would have to make a binding decision before a cabinet meeting today when parliamentary sittings resume or tomorrow’s Coalition partyroom meeting.

Malcolm Turnbull leaves Parliament House after the dinner. Picture Rohan Thomson

Despite public claims that Mr Turnbull’s position had strengthened in the past couple of days, there are now more ministers who believe there will be a leadership challenge. “It is now almost inevitable, the question is timing,” one senior minister said.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott told a Tasman­ian Young Liberals meeting at the weekend he was looking forward to serving under a “Dutton government”.

Ministers were sceptical of the status of the cabinet dinner meeting, initially to be held in The Lodge but shifted to a private dining room in Parliament House to escape media attention.

Mr Dutton, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Health Minister Greg Hunt and Trade Minister Steve Ciobo were delayed due to flight arrangements and missed the dinner, but arrived for the cab­inet discussion later.

One senior minister said the energy policy revamp was a “captain’s call” after it emerged that Mr Turnbull, Scott Morrison and ­Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg had stayed back in Canberra on Thursday to discuss changing the policy, with the Prime Minister ­announcing the change on Friday. ­

Nationals, some of whom have been supportive of Mr Turnbull, have been left angry and confused, and have been refusing to endorse the plan without a full explanation.

Arriving at Canberra airport last night, Turnbull ally Christopher Pyne acknowledged the hostility to the Prime Minister from some MPs but said he still commanded majority support in the partyroom.

Julie Bishop arrives at Canberra Airport on Sunday evening. Picture: Rohan Thomson

“There are some people who don’t support the current leader, that’s quite obvious, (but) the ­majority of my partyroom are 100 per cent behind Malcolm Turnbull,” he said.

A Fairfax-Ipsos poll today shows the Coalition has suffered a slump in its primary vote from 39 to 33 per cent over the past month. The Coalition trailed Labor by 45 to 55 per cent in two-party preferred terms.

It is understood Mr Pyne, the Treasurer and Ms Bishop called MPs at the weekend in an attempt to calm the mood. But the backbench revolt over the national energy guarantee widened yesterday, with the number of rebels swelling from 10 to 12, with Victorian MPs Tim Wilson and James Paterson voicing strong opposition to a last-minute revamp of the policy flagged by the government. Mr Wilson and Senator Paterson are now reserving their right to oppose the NEG if it hands the Energy Minister the discretion to set an emissions-reduction target without first seeking the approval of parliament. Both fear it will allow a future Labor government to more easily increase emissions-reduction targets. “Parliamentary sovereignty should not be sidestepped by ministerial discretion on such a significant, long-term policy question,” Senator Paterson said.

Mr Wilson told The Australian: “Granting a minister regulatory power over a major economic lever … would be a worrying precedent because you just can’t trust Labor.”

Nationals who were previously seeking acceptance of the initial Frydenberg plan, which had wide community and business support, are now worried the latest plan could be worse than the first scheme.

Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison arrives at Parliament House. Picture: Sean Davey

Nationals MP Ken O’Dowd — who holds the marginal seat of Flynn in Queensland by 1.1 per cent — said the government had “opened up a can of worms”.

Other Coalition MPs who were threatening to withhold support for the NEG were not satisfied by the revamp, with Tasmanian senator Eric Abetz saying the plan to mandate Australia’s 2015 climate change commitment by ministerial order would be “worse than legislating it”.

Craig Kelly, the chair of the government’s backbench committee on energy policy, warned that the plan to use a more flexible mechanism to set emissions-­reduction targets “was exactly what the state Labor governments have been asking for”. “The prospect of Daniel Andrews standing on a platform and claiming ‘victory comrades’ … would not be the greatest optic for conservative voters,” he said.

West Australian Liberal Andrew Hastie — who said he could not support a legislated 26 per cent emissions-reduction target because it would sign away Australia’s “economic sovereignty” — said his position “remains the same”. “I’m open to working with the government to land a solution. But until I actually see legislation, I’m not committed to anything,” he said.

Speaking in Forbes, NSW, where he announced additional drought relief for farmers, Mr Turnbull said he would leave speculation on leadership to others. “We’re working with our colleagues to ensure that every element, including the national energy guarantee, is going to work even better to deliver lower energy prices,” he said. “I’ll leave you to all of the speculation.” Mr Abbott accused Mr Turnbull of misrepresenting the Coalition partyroom position last week when he said the NEG had been approved by an overwhelming majority. “On climate policy, he is on a unity ticket with Labor,” Mr Abbott told The Australian.

One cabinet minister said there was no serious threat to Mr Turnbull’s leadership, arguing Mr Dutton was being strongly urged to challenge by a group of six MPs and his support was limited beyond that. The minister said if a spill eventuated this week Mr Dutton would get the support of between 20 and 25 MPs and the only cabinet minister who might back him would be Mr Hunt.