No reprieve for battered leader

Momentum has continued to run against Turnbull. Picture: AAP

The political chaos surrounding Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership continues unabated.

For the second time in 48 hours, the Prime Minister faces almost irresistible pressure to throw his leadership open to challenge.

Time has become the essential element.

Turnbull’s Liberal partyroom victory over Peter Dutton on Tuesday, by 48 votes to 35, was not enough to quell the rebellion after he gambled and called a leadership ballot. What’s more, momentum has continued to run against Turnbull as Dutton appealed to conservative voters and MPs with populist proposals on energy and Scott Morrison emerged as a compromise candidate.

The Liberal leader also suffered the final defeat in the Senate of his top-tier company tax cuts and was forced to dump the policy for the next election, as he offered pensioners power price relief and backed away from cutting off the pensioner ­energy supplement.

Dogged by leadership speculation and the humiliation of ministers in parliament who had voted for Dutton on Tuesday, Turnbull couldn’t escape the debilitating fog of instability.

Turnbull supporters desperately wanted to delay a leadership ballot until at least the next sitting in mid-September — originally when Dutton’s camp wanted to make the move against Turnbull — and feared another vote today, even if unsuccessful. Supporters of the Prime Minister were publicly and privately attacking Dutton and seemed to have stalled the pretender’s attempts when Labor launched an attack over his eligibility to sit in parliament.

Labor’s attack was a two-edged sword for Turnbull: it provided the means for a desperately needed ­reprieve for him but also risked dragging him into an ALP-­inspired political assassination.

Dutton insists the challenge to eligibility under the dreaded section 44 of the Constitution because of private trust investments earning “profit under the crown” is baseless, was dealt with last year and he is backed by legal advice.

Labor has opportunistically ­revived questions about Dutton’s investments in childcare centres that receive government payments as it attempts to damage the leadership contender and draw out the competition between Turnbull and Dutton for as long as possible.

Turnbull’s hesitation in parliament to defend his former minister was viewed poorly and seeking ­advice was deemed as further betrayal. It has ended badly for Turnbull, with Dutton garnering more support for his leadership position and pressing on.