BISHOP: I WON’T CHALLENGE ABBOTT

JULIE Bishop has assured Tony Abbott she is not campaigning for his job.

The Foreign Affairs Minister joined the Prime Minister and Cabinet colleagues for a strategy meeting in Canberra yesterday and told them: “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.”

Treasurer Joe Hockey, who left the Cabinet meeting to talk to reporters about the Reserve Bank’s 25-point interest rate cut, appeared convinced of the foreign minister’s loyalty.

“I have no doubt at all that Julie Bishop is absolutely 100 per cent supportive of the Prime Minister,” he said.

Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who backed Mr Abbott as the best person to lead the party to the 2016 election, could not be more definitive than “hoping” there was no party-room challenge in coming months.

“I don’t think that serves the interests of the party and I think Tony Abbott has done enough to win the confidence of the Australian people and the party room,” he told Fairfax radio.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said Malcolm Turnbull, also mentioned in leadership speculation, had given his personal assurance he would not challenge.

Mr Abbott earlier said the lesson of recent political history was that “instability breeds instability”. “If you want to get away from that, you just end it now and my message to the people of Australia is this is back to work Tuesday,” he said.

An Essential poll published yesterday found one in four voters supported Mr Turnbull to lead the Liberals, while 21 per cent backed Ms Bishop and 11 per cent supported Mr Abbott.

Among Coalition voters Ms Bishop was the most popular.