As night falls, we will close the blog with a few points on the days events.
There has been, as Peter Dutton acknowledged on Tuesday night, a strategic and phased campaign of backbenchers speaking out about the shortcomings of Tony Abbott but more particularly his policies.
The dissenters in just the past two days include Mal Brough, Dennis Jensen, Andrew Laming, Teresa Gambaro, Warren Entsch and latterly, Arthur Sinodinos and Luke Howarth.
Queensland MP, Luke Howarth, said Abbott had shown he was willing to listen and “he needs some more time to turn things around”.
But if the polls did not improve the prime minister “would need to make a leadership call” about what was in the best interests of the country and the Coalition.
Sinodinos says his support of Abbott is “not unconditional”. Though discredited, and having lost his cabinet position over Icac investigations yet to conclude, Sinodinos still has good links in the party. Most particularly to John Howard.
Also today, we saw the intervention of former Victorian Jeff Kennett who agreed with the dissident backbenchers that Abbott’s leadership was terminal. Asked if the Liberal party’s base was moving away from Abbott, Kennett told the ABC:
There’s no question about that whatsoever, and I’d go further and say it has moved away, as has the public support.
Kennett’s intervention was interesting, coming days after a column written by former treasurer Peter Costello, who was deeply critical of Abbott’s Prince Philip decision and the consultation processes of his government.
Given their history, the chances of Costello and Kennett agreeing on anything are practically zero. When they agree to bag out a leader - that has to be dangerous. Add to that Sinodinos, who is so well connected in the NSW Liberal party machine as well as the obvious feeling in Queensland following the state election and you have most of the country covered.
Christopher Pyne was interesting to watch, as always. He enunciated Julie Bishop’s crankiness over being challenged by Abbott over her loyalty. Pyne also suggested tweeted reports were wrong that Malcolm Turnbull was canvassing support. Pyne said he asked Turnbull “point blank”. Turnbull said no, he was not.
So where we stand tonight is that there is a mood for change but no one can see a mechanism. Mostly because - a bit like Costello’s thwarted ambitions - at this stage the contenders are too polite to challenge.
And finally, here is what we know about the mechanism required - if the party room lose their manners at the regular meeting expected on Tuesday.
- A motion for a spill has to be moved in the party room.
- Tony Abbott does have some discretion to knock off the motion if it does not have general support.
- If it does have general support, the motion for a spill goes to a vote.
- After all of those hurdles, there is a leadership vote.
On that note, I will leave you with a tweet regarding Julie Bishop, who appeared at the Australian National University this very evening.
Asked a few more times about leadership, JBish said she was living her dream. Then journos tripped over her shoes.
— Katina Curtis (@katinacurtis) February 4, 2015
That’s it for tonight dear readers. Goodnight.
Updated
Joe Hockey has been on The Project.
Hockey is cracking jokes about the good mood in cabinet. The Project wants to see his call list on his phone.
The scariest thing in politics is when no one is calling.
Hockey says he has been in the national security committee after cabinet and got a “chilling briefing” on the murder of the Jordanian pilot. Message = uncertain times.
Will there be a spill?
There won’t be any spill, there is no candidates, all the potential candidates are saying they are not participating. If there was a candidate, there would be no spill.
Perhaps he should he run against a sock puppet, asks Waleed Aly.
I know where I would like to put the sock, says Joe.
Arthur Sinodinos backs away from Tony Abbott
Former minister Arthur Sinodinos has lobbed a bomb into the leadership issue
Daniel Hurst reports:
John Howard’s former chief of staff, Arthur Sinodinos, has warned that his support for Tony Abbott is “not unconditional” and called on the government to reconnect with the public and reform its budget process.
The intervention by Sinodinos, who until recently served as Abbott’s assistant treasurer, adds weight to the concerns of other backbenchers who have called for the leadership issue to be resolved or key policies to be scrapped.
Sinodinos said he had always supported Abbott “but that support ongoing is not unconditional”.
Asked whether Abbott would still be leader next week, Sinodinos told Sky News: “Comrade, come and ask me next week.”
He predicted that the backbench would be much more assertive in putting its case on policy, saying “fairness in how we do things is going to be very important in framing the next budget”.
Christopher Pyne has asked Malcolm Turnbull “point blank” if he has been canvassing votes and “he told me it was not true”.
Pyne told Ben Fordham on 2GB that the conversation took place in the late morning. Presumably at morning tea in cabinet.
Jacqui Lambie is calling for outspoken backbencher Mal Brough to be made defence minister over Abbott loyalist Kevin Andrews.
And that is because Brough used the defence pay issue to speak out against Tony Abbott last night.
Mr Brough had me cheering in front of the TV last night when he told a reporter that ... I’m very proud of Mr Brough ... He’s a former officer in the army, but unlike the lazy Tasmanian Liberal backbencher Mr Nikolic, who is also a former army officer – Mr Brough has the courage, honour and sense of loyalty to his former colleagues to challenge the PM and speak out for our diggers and their families.
Lambie has a private bill to increase the pay of the defence forces after the government would only agree to a pay rise that is less than the inflation rate. An effective cut.
Lambie has refused to support any government bills until the issue is resolved.
As if Abbott has not got enough on his plate, he has a meeting scheduled with Lambie next Monday on that “unfair” renewable energy target and Bass Strait freight and passenger costs.
Lambie is taking Rod Bender, the GM of Norske Skog paper manufacturer. and Ray Mostogil, GM of Bell Bay Aluminum, to meet the PM.
Updated
There has been a lot of argy-bargy about whether Malcolm Turnbull has been ringing government members asking for support.
If he is canvassing votes, it is obviously bound to leak. In our conversations with members today, no one has yet admitted to Turnbull canvassing votes.
Updated
Well you heard Liberal MP Craig Kelly would still support Tony Abbott even if he knighted Camilla Parker-Bowles. Now David Speers reports that an MP told him he would still support Tony Abbott if the prime minister slept with his wife. That’s probably taking loyalty a little far.
Labor are obviously watching Abbott’s leadership woes with bemusement, to say the least. It has been noted more than once since Australia Day that Labor leadership must be hoping for Abbott to stay in office right up until the election.
But who knows when the election will be?
A resident of Launceston in Tasmania reports that Labor is already out in the field, testing the names of Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop in focus groups. The resident said the overwhelming themes associated with those names were:
- Abbott = laughing stock
- Turnbull = environment
- Bishop = professional though not as well-known
Updated
We reported earlier that Peta Credlin did not attend the cabinet meetings. We can confirm that she did not attend the team-bonding barbecue either, held by the PM’s office for ministers and their chiefs of staff.
Notwithstanding her latter-day strategic withdrawal, Credlin has not escaped the ire of members following reports that she vetoed Sussan Ley’s choice of chief of staff Rowena Cowan.
Updated
Cabinet has broken up now.
Malcolm Turnbull’s spokesman has described as “inaccurate” a tweet suggesting that the communications minister had called federal MPs for support for the leadership.
Lenore Taylor makes the point in her analysis that by attacking Tony Abbott’s policies, government dissidents appear to be establishing a path for a new leader, if we do see a change.
Carefully raising some of Tony Abbott’s most unpopular moves is an effective way to appeal to other disaffected MPs and keep the destabilisation spiralling in the absence of any declared alternative candidates to spruik.
If the leadership changed, it would also give a new leader concrete things to change – even if they had sat in the cabinet that made some of the decisions being criticised. That would be a better start to a new prime ministership than saying something lame like “we were a good government that lost its way” as Julia Gillard was forced to do. It is laying the groundwork for a new leader to have a chance of giving the electorate a reason for the change. That doesn’t necessarily mean the electorate would buy the rationale, but it would at least give a new leadership team something to say.
Updated
Shalailah Medhora has been watching Greens leader Christine Milne. Like the Liberal backbench, the issue of climate change and the emissions trading scheme is uppermost in her mind. Milne has given all three players a whack, just in case things change by the end of the day. She again makes the point, it is not the message that has gone wrong for Abbott, it’s what he’s selling.
Tony Abbott’s supposed adult government descends into playground games over their leadership. They’re in complete disarray, and that’s because what they’re offering to the Australian people is abhorrent to the overwhelming majority, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s Tony Abbott or Malcolm Turnbull or Julie Bishop. What they’re doing is governing for the big end of town.
Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop – are they going to say anything different about global warming than Tony Abbott.
Updated
Our gallery colleague David Crowe has picked the error in Macdonald’s statement.
Ian Macdonald saw this one coming. Warning against spill dated January 4. pic.twitter.com/8OzxYVZ1OR
— David Crowe (@CroweDM) February 4, 2015
Queensland Liberal senator Ian Macdonald – who has been a regular critic of his government and chief of staff, Peta Credlin – has entered the leadership debate. But it is not in the way you might think. We need to learn, says Macdonald, but no spill.
There should be no spill – that is the Labor way. And in my view any spill would not succeed.
We need to carefully, maturely and selflessly consider all aspects of the federal implications of the Victorian and Queensland elections, and recent ‘barnacles’ at the federal level, and then do what is best for Australia.
And that is to return a Liberal government at the next election. But if we do not change our general approach at the federal level then I am fearful that this may not happen.
Updated
Janet Albrechtsen, columnist with the Australian, laments the loss of the old Tony Abbott, a keen listener and a man who took the party leadership from Malcolm Turnbull for the sake of party unity. She suggests if push comes to shove, Tony Abbott may step aside for the sake of the party.
It’s hard to get a read on Abbott these days. Too often, there is awkwardness there, unsure footing, maybe even insecurities. It would only be normal, after all. Abbott is a complex man, far more complex than his critics understand. Despite Abbott’s fighting words at the National Press Club on Monday, it’s possible that if a leadership challenge looks likely, he may ignore the golden rule of politics that most leaders will slay dragons to stay in the top job.
Why? Because Abbott is not like most leaders. In the final act of loyalty, almost martyrdom, he may well hand over the leadership with no blood on the floor. Don’t count on it. But don’t count it out either.
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One from the vault. HE’S A REPUBLICAN!
Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull debate Australia as a republic with Barrie Cassidy on Meet the Press, 1994 pic.twitter.com/hKPkNqOn3k
— Canberra Insider (@CanberraInsider) February 4, 2015
The same old philosophical schisms in the Coalition have government MPs wringing their hands on the leadership issue. Whether to stay with Tony Abbott, and more of the same, or whether to go to a potential Bishop-Turnbull leadership ticket with all the associated changes on substantive policy issues like climate change.
Here’s Paul Kelly in the Australian:
Bishop is not seen as strong enough in her own right. That is her cardinal weakness. Remember: in this government she has been distant from the economic bear pit and previously she was an unsuccessful shadow treasurer.
As for Turnbull, he brings three serious defects to the job. Many MPs believe he cannot hold the Liberal party together, that it would shatter under his leadership in a 2009 replay and that his progressive values will fracture the conservative side. Second, the Nationals distrust him, thereby creating a Coalition friction. Third, Turnbull cannot crusade against Labor’s carbon pricing policy, a big problem.
There are no easy options. But if the partyroom is pledged to change, the best prospect is Turnbull as leader, Bishop as deputy and Morrison as treasurer.
Having set the dogs running by declaring the Prince Philip decision could be fatal to Abbott’s leadership, Andrew Bolt, is now declaring backbenchers speaking are “malcontents” who are betraying their leader.
There was no need to publicly attack Abbott within 24 hours of him giving a speech admitting error, dropping unpopular schemes, promising more consultation and delivering a strong case for re-election. That is an act of bastardry. What would it have hurt to give Abbott a few more months to see if he could match words with deeds?
I put this to Jensen on air last night and was deeply, deeply unsatisfied with his answers. I find it astonishing that he would want Abbott gone without being able to suggest who could do a better job. Indeed, Jensen, a fierce climate sceptic, seemed happy to have Malcolm Turnbull, an equally fierce warmist, return to the leadership, even though Jensen was one of the plotters who brought Turnbull down, too, precisely for his warmist views.
“Malcontents” may have been deliberate.
Updated
Malcolm Turnbull has long had popular support in polls but in the past few days, there has been persistent supporter hanging outside his Sydney office. ABC presenter James Valentine caught him today.
Malcolm's supporters are lobbying hard... pic.twitter.com/J5kDWBXN1U
— James Valentine (@Valentine702) February 4, 2015
Julie Bishop refuses to criticise dissident backbenchers
Julie Bishop has done an interview with Joanna Heath this morning which does a couple of pretty amazing things.
- Bishop does not rule out running for the top job if there is a spill.
- She refuses to criticise backbenchers speaking out – unlike other cabinet ministers.
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So as cabinet ministers remain locked in a room, we are left to ponder the earlier suggestion that unnamed federal Liberal MPs have told a journalist that Malcolm Turnbull has asked for their support in a possible leadership ballot.
This comes one day after Julie Bishop was flushed out to give a public assurance that she was:
- not campaigning for the job
- not counting numbers, and
- will not challenge the leader.
The suggestion was that the PM’s office had leaked the meeting to force her to make a public commitment. That has not been confirmed anywhere.
As a result, Christopher Pyne has already suggested that Julie Bishop was upset that her loyalty was being questioned when she had done everything to stay out of Abbott’s way.
Some around these dark corridors are suggesting that this is the second phase of the prime minister’s counteroffensive, ie now flushing out Turnbull to make the same guarantees.
Of course, counteroffensives are one thing but offending the two main contenders may be a dodgy political move.
Updated
ABC presenter Julie Baird has just sent out the tweet below. Malcolm Turnbull is still in cabinet with all the other ministers. His office says as a result, there is no immediate response to this obviously big claim.
BREAKING: Two federal Liberal MPs have just confirmed to me that Malcolm Turnbull has called to ask if they will vote for him as leader.
— Julia Baird (@bairdjulia) February 4, 2015
The political assault on Tony Abbott from his Queensland colleagues continues with Brisbane Liberal member Teresa Gambaro writing an opinion piece this morning that offers frank advice to her leader originally through the pages of The Australian.
It is not enough for leaders to listen: they must also hear. A leader must create a team and champion the good performances of team members, not be fearful of them. And finally, a leader should not lie – to their colleagues or the Australian people.
The truth is often difficult, but any political figure who looks the public in the eye and betrays their trust is not worthy of office.
I want to be part of a government that can look the Australian people in the eye and honestly say – we have listened to you, we have heard you and we will work with you in the best interests of our nation.
We must be part of an ongoing conversation with the Australian people that is longer than 140 characters and does not peddle mindless political ideology.
Updated
Liberal MP, Craig Kelly, has come to Abbott’s rescue. Kelly holds the marginal Sydney seat of Hughes but he is not for turning. Tony could give a “knighthood” to Camilla for all he cares. (Now that would be news.) He would still #stickwithtony.
He has taken to Facebook to declare: I’M STICKING WITH TONY.
He’s scrapped the Carbon Tax
He’s stopped the boats – and the deaths at sea.
He’s gotten rid of the Mining Tax – so Australia is once more seen as a safe place to invest.
He has over $1 trillion worth of new projects approved, projects that had been held up by Labor.
He has new road projects now underway to overcome commuter gridlock in our cities.
After 50 years of buck passing, he’s made a decision on a new Western Sydney Airport.
He’s delivered a trifecta of free trade agreements covering more than 50 per cent of our exports – with China, Japan and South Korea.
He has the live cattle trade – closed down in panic over a TV programme – booming again.
At last, he has the NBN is rolling out, reliably and affordably.
He has Jobs growth running at 4,000 new jobs a week – triple that of 2013
He has new housing approvals at record levels – creating a boom for tradies.
He has the registration of new companies at the highest on record.
He has Economic growth now running at 2.7 per cent, up from 1.9 per cent a year ago.
He’s cracking down on the likes of Hizb-ut-Tahrir and others who nurture Islamic extremism in our suburbs.
For small business, he’s cutting company tax by 1.5% on the 1st July to encourage further employment growth.
And right now; Petrol prices are nearing 15 year lows, home loan interest rates are the lowest on record, and the September quarter had the biggest fall in power prices on record.
Therefore, even if he’d given a knighthood to Camilla – I’m sticking with Tony !!
Updated
Trade minister Andrew Robb has been on the ABC acknowledging that the government’s solid achievements have been overshadowed by a few policies – higher education deregulation and Medicare copayment – which in Robb’s eyes, were surprises.
Solid achievements were overshadowed by policies that were a surprise to people.
The word “surprise” is particularly devastating. Remember that Tony Abbott promised to be a “government of no surprises”.
Updated
Daniel Hurst has wrapped up the morning’s leadership coverage in a concise wrap for your edification which you may find here.
Cabinet ministers have rallied around Tony Abbott despite backbenchers’ determination to force a leadership showdown and amid reports that Julie Bishop was “offended” at having to prove her loyalty.
Senior ministers Joe Hockey, Mathias Cormann and Christopher Pyne came to the prime minister’s aid on Wednesday, saying Abbott had the cabinet’s unanimous support and the overwhelming backing of the 102-strong Liberal party room.
But efforts to shore up the prime minister’s standing took a blow on Wednesday when the former Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett suggested the party’s leadership was terminal and the public’s “universal and unanimous” view was that the government was getting nowhere.
Updated
Joe Hockey challenges dissenters to come out
Joe Hockey was doorstopped after the AM interview, where it has to be said he was looking pretty upbeat in spite of the pressure. He reminded reporters that no prime minister has had 100% support.
When John Howard sacked his seventh minister, says Hockey, a number of MPs went to the crossbenches. He did not have 100% support at that time.
Let’s have a little historical perspective.
He acknowledges that things move quicker today than they did then but his essential message is – get a grip. He challenges people to come out and show their colours.
If there’s dozens, come out dozens.
Updated
Back to Joe.
Some enterprising reporter tracked down party elder John Howard who was on his regular morning walk in Sydney somewhere. Breaking news: Howard fully supports Abbott’s leadership.
But it was Joe Hockey who took our minds back to the heady first years of the Howard administration, when seven ministers fell on their swords as the Coalition adjusted to government. And had a few issues. With travel. And Howard’s own ministerial code of conduct.
I remember in 1997 John Howard had sacked seven ministers – seven ministers – before his 18 months in office. He had a number of backbenchers going to the crossbenchers, we won the subsequent election. I’d say to you, we’re not even at that point of time in the Howard government. We hadn’t even got to the 18-month point but obviously there are going to be pressures when you make difficult decisions.
So the Abbott government is way ahead, says Hockey.
Which brings me the tweet of George Megalogenis who helpfully reminded us of another comparison from Liberal history.
Billy McMahon was prime minister for 1 year, 8 months, 25 days. Tony Abbott needs another 4 months & 7 days to catch him. Might not happen.
— George Megalogenis (@GMegalogenis) February 3, 2015
Updated
Now Ray Hadley is moving the debt, allowing Abbott to find his feet on “Labor’s debt and deficit”.
The prime minister is asking Labor, the Greens and the crossbenchers to be constructive when negotiating legislation. (Which would require them to erase the opposition leaders’ behaviour in the last term.)
“We’re more than capable,” says Abbott.
He thinks there are grounds for growing confidence in the weeks ahead.
Hadley says he knows Abbott is “a fighter” and knows he will “dig in”. He suggests Abbott ring Jensen and Entsch. Abbott resists commenting.
Updated
Tony Abbott says he can’t rule out never doing another “captain’s call” and claims to have listened to his colleagues and reversed those decision.
Except one, says Hadley. He can’t remove the gong from Phil.
Abbott says he is the same man in government as he was in opposition. This goes to the point Liberal MP Dennis Jensen made yesterday that he was a wartime leader for opposition but not a peacetime leader for government.
Tony Abbott is asked about Jeff Kennett’s comments that his leadership is terminal.
Will you bring on a spill?
Abbott says Kennett is entitled to his view but “we were elected to end the chaos of the Labor years”.
Hadley gives Abbott a Dorothy Dixer. He says Warren Entsch had criticised Labor for its instability and now he is destabilising Abbott.
Abbott tells Hadley the party room is robust and he has been called a “so-and-so”. He is determined to get on with the job.
Tony Abbott announces he has Lindt cafe report
Tony Abbott says he has not had a chance to read the report into the Lindt cafe siege yet.
What I don’t want to do is speculate on what might be in the report before I’ve had a chance to actually real read it. As I said I have had it about 10 minutes. These are very important issues, though. Yes, the coronial inquiry will look at what actually happened inside the Lindt cafe but what this report deals with is how we got to that point, what went wrong, what is there in his history that led to this and what are the lessons that we could usefully learn from that?
Updated
Tony Abbott has received a report into the Sydney siege in the Lindt cafe from the secretary of his department.
We are back to national security. As foreshadowed.
Tony Abbott is on with Ray Hadley right now.
I can understand why some of the colleagues are nervous.
I’m getting on with government.
The main thing Tony Abbott has going for him is the will of Liberal members to avoid the obvious comparisons to leadership changes under Labor.
Joe Hockey, who has been one of the key defenders, walked straight into a first question from Michael Brissenden on AM. Brissenden reminded the treasurer of his description of Labor leadership instability as “pathetic and insulting to the country”.
I’m not talking about this sort of speculation.
Hockey tried to bat on about carbon tax, mining tax, et al, and then was dragged back.
There’s a 102 people in the party room. Now we’re heard publicly from a few of our very upset backbenchers. We understand they are upset. It’s tough governing. You don’t bring down a prime minister because of a knighthood for Prince Philip. Even as a republican, I think that is absolutely absurd. You don’t want to be in a position where you see Australia have its sixth government in eight years. We need to have stability.
Updated
Finance minister Mathias Cormann was out to defend his prime minister and tell his colleagues to go tell it to the party room. Which is better than go tell it to a mountain.
There is a small number of valued colleagues that have expressed a view publicly. These sorts of issues, of course, should be addressed through the internal forums of the party and that is what I would urge all of my colleagues to do. We have a party room meeting next week.
He said the mood in cabinet was very positive.
Updated
Remember this was Julie Bishop’s statement from yesterday afternoon.
I am not campaigning for the job of prime minister, I am not ringing the backbench asking for support. I am not counting any numbers, I will not challenge the leader.
Probably the top contender for the job, foreign minister Julie Bishop, came out yesterday afternoon to say she had not been counting numbers and that she would not challenge.
This played out in a way that is instructive for leaders paranoid about plotters. Bishop had absented herself for the last week or so of Tony Abbott’s #knightmare. She did have a few things on, like meetings with her UK counterparts, which I grant you, were helpfully tweeted in the middle of Abbott’s Press Club reset speech.
Then, a leak occurred of a meeting between Abbott and Bishop on Sunday, in which the prime minister asked for an assurance she wouldn’t challenge. By all accounts, Bishop was furious because, if the rumours are correct, the PM’s office leaked the meeting. Only two people there. Sky News, which broke the story, would only say the sources were rock solid. That leaves one or t’other.
Education minister Christopher Pyne basically confirmed Bishop’s feelings today.
On Nine’s Today program, he said it’s “not the intention of the prime minister” to have a spill.
But then:
Well, Julie has been the deputy since 2007 and I think she was insulted a little, offended a bit about the idea that she wasn’t totally loyal to Tony Abbott.
I think she felt that she didn’t need to prove her loyalty. I can understand that. But eventually she felt she had to make a statement, as she did yesterday afternoon. But I don’t think it was because of a lack of support for Tony Abbott.
I think it was because she felt that her loyalty should be unquestioned because she has always been loyal to Tony Abbott.
Updated
In the meantime, former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett was this minute on ABC’s AM, saying “sadly” the realisation has dawned on most Coalition politicians that the leadership is terminal. The public has moved on, says Kennett, implying the party should move on too.
Updated
In the words of Tony Abbott, I am endeavouring to calmly, methodically and purposefully bring you all the leadership derp around the traps this morning.
My favourite government communications specialist, deputy leader Barnaby Joyce, mused on the instability across a number of jurisdictions this morning.
There is the example in the Northern Territory, where Adam Giles was replaced by Willem Westra van Holthe, until he wasn’t.
Queensland has yet to form a government, where Labor has knocked off the Coalition, notwithstanding a huge majority.
And now Canberra.
My only explanation is the full moon, says Barnaby.
Updated
Leadership woes worsen for Tony Abbott
The future of Tony Abbott’s prime ministership looks increasingly uncertain this morning.
The leader who has lived by the sword could well politically die by the sword at the first party room meeting next Tuesday. If not earlier.
Last night, there was an air of disbelief as cabinet ministers emerged from an all-day meeting and a team-bonding barbecue to answer devastating criticisms of Abbott’s leadership from their backbench.
These were the late-night developments.
1. WA Liberal MP Dennis Jensen said Tony Abbott’s leadership was “terminal” and likened it to a boil that needed to be lanced.
2. Queensland Liberal MP Warren Entsch, a former government whip who knows how to count, has called for a spill.
3. Immigration minister Peter Dutton called for his colleagues to give Abbott some clear air and referred to a deliberate, staged destabilisation process which was “unfair”. Dutton’s view was that it was forensically targeted to smash Abbott’s chances in each media cycle.
4. Social services minister Scott Morrison came out to say, all’s well. Nothing to see here. He was hammered on Sky News by Machiavelli himself, Graham Richardson, who said ScoMo was in denial. Morrison said he was not doing the numbers and if Richo – the Labor numbers man – was, it was pretty interesting.
“I’ve been asked to,” said Richo.
Morrison’s main messages was that the government was getting on with policies for jobs, health, education and national security “in these uncertain times”. Indeed Abbott and Morrison keep trying to drag the agenda back to national security, the last great winning post for the Coalition. But people have stopped listening.
5. It emerged Abbott’s controversial chief of staff, Peta Credlin, did not attend cabinet meeting for the first time. She has always attended in the past and has shared her opinions fulsomely.
This morning, the man who gave his leader just two hours of clear air after his Press Club “reset speech” before dumping on him, Queenslander Andrew Laming, was pushing his private member’s bill to do away with Abbott’s knighthoods.
It was nothing to do with Abbott’s leadership, Laming says this morning.
Remember, this has quickly spiralled out of control since Australia Day, a little more than a week ago, when Abbott shocked the socks off his colleagues by anointing Prince Philip as a knight in the Order of Australia.
Coming up, Joe Hockey, Mathias Cormann and a surprising Christopher Pyne.
Stay with us and join the conversation below or on Twitter with me @gabriellechan.
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