Australian prime minister survives 'near-death experience' party vote
Tony Abbott wins Liberal party vote to stay on as leader and asks for six months to turn around flagging administrationhttp://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/09/australian-prime-minister-survives-near-death-experience-party-vote2/9/15
The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, has survived a challenge to his leadership, but a revolt by dozens of his own party MPs in a ballot left him badly wounded.
Despite there being no declared alternative candidates in a secret ballot to determine whether the leadership of his ruling Liberal party be declared open, Abbott secured only 61 out of a possible 101 votes.
Nearly two-fifths of his own MPs – 39 of his party colleagues – lodged an effective no-confidence vote against him. The Guardian understands he referred to the episode as a “near-death experience” in the party room after the debate. There was one spoiled ballot.
Abbott asked backbenchers to give him another six months to turn around the government’s fortunes, at which point the issue could be revisited – but insisted he could win the next election, due in 2016.
“I accept that the last few weeks have been difficult weeks for the government. But there have also been difficult weeks for the Australian people, because the people expect and deserve a government which is getting on with the job,” Abbott said in a press conference the afternoon after the vote on the “spill” motion.
“I am confident that have we have put this time behind us and I am confident that, as of today, we are back at work for the people of Australia. I am confident that what we have shown the Australian people is that we have looked over the precipice and we have decided we are not going to go down the Labor party path of a damaged, misguided and dysfunctional government.”
The prime minister held out an olive branch to those who had spoken out in the lead-up to the spill motion, saying he would not hold it against them.
He also appealed to his colleagues to stop briefing the media.
The deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, told the earlier meeting of MPs that the leadership team’s door was open. She knew people had had concerns, including her, but they should not let them fester.
Internal discontent with the direction of the Abbott government had been amplified over the Australian summer break. The Liberal party has fared poorly in recent state elections and Abbott’s blokeish leadership style has rankled voters, particularly women.
But it was the prime minister’s decision to knight Prince Philip that brought the issue to a head. Many saw the gesture – on Australia’s national day – as an insult to a country that harbours deep republican instincts.
As part of his appeasement of MPs, Abbott specifically referred to his decision to have Australian knight and dames awarded by a committee as an example of him consulting.
The most likely contender for the leadership if there had been a spill, the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, had refused to formally declare his candidacy.
He was understood to have told supporters he would only take the leadership in response to a demand from his party and he did not want to be seen as an assassin.
But he was clearly put out by Abbott’s decision to bring forward the spill motion by 24 hours, a move that gave the prime minister’s opponents less time to organise. He pointedly said rescheduling the meeting for 9am was another of the prime minister’s much-criticised “captain’s calls”.
Turnbull described the Liberal leadership as the gift of the party room. “If for whatever reason the leadership of a political party is vacant then anyone, any member of the party can stand, whether they be a minister or a backbencher, without any disloyalty to the person whose leadership has been declared vacant,” he said in a strong sign of his intentions.
The other key player, Bishop, kept her options open in the lead-up to the spill. She and Turnbull had a lengthy discussions on Sunday at a party fundraiser in Sydney. Coalition MPs had understood the pair would not run against one another but Bishop appeared to be assessing her support.
“I will speak to my colleagues first,” she said on Sunday when asked whether she would run for leadership. “I don’t make announcements through the media.”
Luke Simpkins, a backbencher who had initiated Monday’s vote on Abbott’s future, said after the result was known that he felt a message had been understood by his leadership.
“I think this has been a good wake-up call. The prime minister has taken on board what our concerns have been and we look forward to that being implemented,” he said.