Defiant Australian PM Turnbull refuses to ‘give in to bullies’

CANBERRA — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull vowed not to “give in to bullies” on Thursday in the face of a new leadership challenge, but said he will quit politics if his party no longer supports him.

Former home affairs minister Peter Dutton narrowly lost a challenge against Turnbull on Tuesday and has declared he would again contest a Liberal party leadership vote, while media reported the treasurer and foreign ministers will also be candidates if a vote is called.

Key Turnbull supporter, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said, Turnbull no longer had majority party support and Dutton was now the best person to lead the government to the next election, due by May 2019.

Several ministers have tendered their resignations. The leadership crisis saw the government adjourn Parliament on Thursday until September.

Turnbull said if he received a letter requesting a fresh vote with the signatures of 43 Liberal Party lawmakers, he would call a party meeting for midday on Friday. If a so-called leadership spill motion was then passed, he would not stand in the vote.

“The reality is that a minority in the party room supported by others outside the Parliament have sought to bully, intimidate others into making this change of leadership that they’re seeking,” Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

“I do not believe in that. I have never done that. I have never given in to bullies, but you can imagine the pressure it’s put people under,” he said.

A leadership spill motion is a vote to declare the leadership of a political party vacant, allowing an open contest.

Competitors

Australian media reported on Thursday that Treasurer Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop would contest the top job if the spill motion is passed.

Morrison has been a Turnbull supporter, but has reportedly long held ambitions to be prime minister.

Bishop, a foreign minister for almost five years, has been deputy leader of the Liberal Party since 2007.

Whoever emerges as the next prime minister will become Australia’s sixth in less than a decade. None of them, including two stints for Labor leader Kevin Rudd, have served a full term.

“Australians will be rightly appalled by what they are witnessing in their parliament,” Turnbull said.