The prime minister has brushed off leadership speculation during his visit to New Zealand for bilateral talks with his counterpart, John Key.
Tony Abbott is New Zealand for security and trade talks rounded off with a visit to a World Cup cricket match between the two countries in Auckland on Saturday.
The trans-Tasman visit has been dominated by speculation in Canberra about a second leadership spill, with more Liberal MPs believed to have joined the 39 out of 102 who supported a spill motion on February 9.
It is unclear whether it is now a party room majority.
Both Abbott and Key were asked about the leadership tension after their meeting about Iraq and regional security issues.
Abbott dismissed the issue. “I’m just pushing on with the job. I’m, as you would expect, undistracted and undeterred by the hyper ventilating which seems to be taking place at least amongst the media,” he said.
Key said it wasn’t his role to get involved in politics on the other side of the Tasman.
“The reality is that there are always times where there is political turmoil and change, an that’s nature of democracy, and we should welcome that as long as that happens on a free and fair basis,” he said. “In the time that I’ve worked alongside Tony Abbott in his capacity as prime minister, I believe he’s been an outstanding prime minister.”
The trade minister, Andrew Robb, has addressed the roiling leadership speculation at home, saying the prime minister has earned the right to lead the Liberal party.
Speaking on Saturday, Robb backed Mr Abbott to lead the government at the next election. “He has earned the right to take us to the next election,” he told Sky News.
“That is usually the disposition of people when they vote a government in, that they would expect the prime minister to be given the opportunity to play out his program.”
The foreign minister, Julie Bishop, who is a potential leadership candidate, is also in New Zealand, said she knew nothing about a leadership spill motion being planned for next week.
“I am not aware of any attempt to bring a spill motion to challenge the leadership. I am not aware of any such approach,” Bishop told New Zealand’s TV3 Network. “There was a motion for a spill of the leadership a couple of weeks ago, it was defeated.”
Bishop would not be drawn on whether she would back Abbott in a leadership challenge, labelling it a hypothetical question.
“I support the leader that the party has elected,” Bishop added.
The communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, is widely touted as the most likely challenger to Abbott.
Turnbull has so far refused to be drawn on whether he is considering a tilt at the top job.
On Saturday morning, Turnbull again brushed off questions about the federal leadership.
“The single most important choice here in New South Wales is between Mike Baird and Luke Foley,” he told reporters outside his Sydney home.
The assistant treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, denied Abbott was in a worse position now than before the leadership spill motion earlier this month. “I don’t think he is,” Frydenberg told Sky News.
“He has been on the job getting around to more than a dozen electorates around the country ... and he’s also made significant announcements on the submarine project on foreign investment review boards activities.
“The government is getting on with the job of governing.”
He said there was “no doubt” that some of the MPs who previously voted in favour of a leadership spill “wanted to bring it on again”.
“They’re in a minority,” he added. He said there were no indications that more Coalition colleagues had turned against the prime minister.
Federal MP Bob Katter has likened the Liberal Party to a “pit of snakes”.
“If you’ve got no belief system and what you’ve got is a pit of snakes, that’s all you’ve got,” he told the Nine Network. “Everyone wants to be leader, everyone wants to be in the ministry.
“It would be really nice if the LNP put some people in government who are interested in governing the country, instead of being interested in getting promoted into a ministry or from the ministry into leadership positions.”
