Australian PM’s hold on power showing cracks
Could face vote on his leadership next week
S y dney • Tony Abbott’s hold on power in Australia looked increasingly precarious Wednesday. The prime minister could face a vote on his fate as early as next week after MPs openly expressed their hostility to his leadership of the country’s ruling coalition.
Malcolm Turnbull, a leading candidate to replace Mr. Abbott, was forced to deny claims he was gathering support for a challenge and more.
The crisis follows the prime minister’s much-ridiculed decision to award a knighthood to the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip, followed by the dramatic loss of the state coalition in a Queensland election Saturday. Polls show Mr. Abbott’s already-low approval ratings have plunged further only halfway through his first three-year term as prime minister.
Several Australian Liberal Party backbenchers have publicly declared their dissatisfaction with their leader and want the issue resolved at a party meeting next Tuesday.
Media reports said Mr. Turnbull called at least two MPs to ask for their support. Mr. Turnbull’s office said the reports were inaccurate but that he had spoken to concerned colleagues.
The 60-year-old came to global attention in the mid1980s as a pugnacious lawyer when he represented Peter Wright, a former senior British intelligence operative, in the famous Spycatcher case. Britain sought to halt the publication of Mr. Wright’s memoirs and argued the book breached confidentiality, but Mr. Turnbull successfully defended the former spy in an Australian court.
Mr. Turnbull later became a leading figure in the country’s republican movement in the lead-up to the failed referendum on the issue in 1999. He was directly opposed to Mr. Abbott, who was a leader of the monarchist movement.
A self-made millionaire married to a former lord mayor of Sydney, Mr. Turnbull led the Liberal Party in opposition in 2008-09 but was effectively dumped by it over his support for a carbon emissions trading scheme.
Adding to Mr. Abbott’s woes, Arthur Sinodinos, a former chief of staff to long-serving prime minister John Howard, became another high-profile MP to express concerns about his leader. He said his support was not unconditional and the leadership speculation was “not just media hype.”
Asked if Mr. Abbott would be prime minister in a week, he replied, “Comrade, come and ask me next week.
“It’s hypothetical to talk about a leadership contest. Unless and until someone else declares, it’s academic to discuss the merits of other people because we don’t know what is on offer and what we are being offered.”
Mr. Abbott, a British-born Rhodes scholar who became prime minister after the 2013 general election, has promised to change his leadership style, but has made it clear he has no intention of resigning. He said his coalition was elected because the previous Labour Party government descended into chaos and infighting, changing its leader twice in three years.
“The thing is that we were elected because people were sick of chaos,” he said. “What I am determined to do is give Australia back the certainty and stability that people crave.” He added he understood his colleagues were nervous and admitted the government last year “bit off more than it could chew.”
After the debacle of Prince Philip’s knighthood, he announced from now on the Order of Australia Council would decide who would be made a knight or dame.
Mr. Abbott was widely criticized for resurrecting the titles a year ago. Some said it was evidence he was stuck in a bygone era. Bestowing a knighthood on the 93-year-old duke on Australia’s national day was seen as an insult to deserving Australian citizens.