Turnbull refuses to ‘give in to bullies’

DEFIANT 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, an expolice officer and right-wing conservative, said he was confident he now had the numbers to unseat Turnbull, considered a moderate.

And with senior ministers defecting, Turnbull’s near three-year grip on power is tenuous despite surviving a snap ballot on his leadership on Tuesday, winning the vote 48-35.

He said that Dutton had yet to prove he has majority backing from the Liberal Party – a requirement for him to force another meeting to have a second crack at t he top j ob a head of national elections due by mid-2019.

If a petition arrives showing that support – and reports late in the day said Dutton was closing in on his target – the meeting will be held at midday on Friday (0200 GMT).

Turnbull said if that happens, he will not stand as a leadership candidate and will leave parliament, sparking a by-election that could b e p r o b l e m a t i c f o r t he gov er n ment wh ic h has a wafer-thin one-seat

parliamentary majority.

In a twist to the plot, ABC and Sky News reported that Treasurer Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, both Turnbull allies, may also stand in a leadership ballot, in a bid to derail Dutton’s power grab.

Turnbull accused Dutton and his supporters of intimidation in a crisis that snowballed from Monday after months of poor opinion polls and a revolt by fellow Liberal politicians over plans to embed carbon emissions targets in law.

“What began as a minority has by a process of intimidation persuaded people that the only way to stop the insurgency is to give in to it,” he said.

“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 added that what Australia was witnessing was “a very deliberate effort to pull the Liberal Party further to the right”.

Dutton earlier told reporters he had advised Turnbull by phone that “it was my judgement that the majority of the party room no longer supported his leadership”.

“As such, I asked him to convene a meeting of the Liberal Party at which I would challenge for the leadership of the parliamentary Liberal Party,” he added.

In a major blow, Turnbull’s influential Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, along with the employment and education ministers, then said he no longer had their backing.

‘Issue of eligibility’

They joined at least 10 other ministers who have either resigned or offered to.

Complicating matters, it emerged that Dutton faces questions over his eligibility to sit in parliament, due to financial interests in childcare cen- tres that receive government subsidies – a possible breach of constitutional rules.

“This issue of eligibility is critically important,” Turnbull said, adding that the solicitorgeneral was looking into the matter.

Dutton, described by supporters as a pragmatic legislator who gets things done and by detractors as a racist who demonises refugees, said he has legal advice that he is in the clear.