Former Turnbull minister and Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells has accused Scott Morrison's backers of plotting for "some time" to have him take over as prime minister.
In an interview with the ABC's National Wrap program, Senator Fierravanti-Wells said Mr Morrison's backers had to explain their actions because she believed they were actively working for his election as leader.
Mr Morrison beat Peter Dutton 45 votes to 40 in a leadership spill on August 24.
Senator Fierravanti-Wells' intervention seeks to throw doubt on the claim that Mr Morrison and his supporters had "clean hands" during the leadership turmoil.
The ABC has spoken to others who believe the Morrison camp exploited the situation to have their candidate elected.
Senator Fierravanti-Wells said having seen what emerged it was "very clear" that those people who were supporting Mr Morrison were doing so for "quite some time and it is very clear that the people who have emerged as his strong backers are people well known here in NSW, well-known powerbrokers and well-known powerbrokers here in the Liberal Party in NSW".
"I believe that in the end the vote that really I think was a very indicative one … was the vote to spill and that was how many people wanted to spill the position and there was 45 and 40 against," Senator Fierravanti-Wells said.
"Considering that the vote for the Dutton camp was 40 then there must have been people … supporting Morrison who actually voted for a spill and that I think has opened up the whole gambit of what the various possibilities were."
The senator said since the challenge and since the election of Mr Morrison we were starting to see "more information come to light and I think that it's important that as much information as possible does come to light so we do get to the bottom of what actually happened in that week".
"It was a very complicated week Patricia and I think it's important for all aspects and everything that happened during that week to come to the fore," she said.
"I think it's important for the Australian public to know that."
