Malcolm Turnbull’s victory in the leadership ballot has solved little for the Liberal Party.
It has also shortened the odds of an election before Christmas and confirmed the rebellion against the Prime Minister is far wider than just a few malcontents.
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Peter Dutton has won substantial support in the sudden vote which means 35 members of the Parliamentary Liberal Party do not want Turnbull to continue as leader and Dutton can now campaign from the backbench without Cabinet solidarity restraints.
It now only takes seven MPs to change their mind to change the leadership and all the denials of discontent and suggestions it was a handful of disgruntled MPs around Tony Abbott have proven to be empty.
Turnbull’s leadership was already heavily damaged and his survival cannot be guaranteed.
It’s a victory for Turnbull but the expectation is that over the next three weeks, with two weeks of Parliament not sitting, MPs will be asked to reconsider.
The extent of the vote for Dutton, after no traditional preparation, could also encourage others to consider running against Turnbull.
The sum total of the challenge and the result is that Turnbull is even more deeply wounded, his authority is gone and Labor has the best result it could have achieved — an ineffectual Turnbull left as leader.
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