Malcolm Turnbull has retained his position as leader of the Liberal Party after winning a secret ballot on a motion to spill the leadership by 48-35. Punch editors will be posting the latest developments, commentary, pictures and video here as they come to hand. Times are AEDT. Refresh this page for updates.
4pm: Question Time over, the Libs limped their way through it the poor sods, they looked like a footy team that had just got thumped in the GF. Read our coverage of the day unfolded below. I will post a new piece later today wrapping up Turnbull’s two days of hell, and his future from here.
1.55pm: Time for Question Time. The Punch will be covering it live here - join in, should be fun.
1.50pm: Battered Libs limping their way towards chamber for QT. One MP just told me this is their equivalent of DLP split. Total and unabiding fury between the two camps. MPs also talking up hockey as best consensus candidate for leadership change in new year.
1.41pm: News round-ups of the events at the partyroom meeting now available at news.com.au and The Australian.
1.33pm: It’s certainly a better result than yesterday on the CPRS - but it won’t give Turnbull any security. Almost half the party still out to get him…
1.31pm: Joe Hockey speaking after the meeting. “Clearly this issue has done us incredible damage and I hope the Australian people forgive us…”. Emphasises the Liberal Party is a progressive party. Says given the mood of the party the 48-35 result was a good result for Turnbull.
1.29pm: It’s understood Joe Hockey was sounded out by the right for leadership on condition he opposed the CPRS. Said he’s not interested in starting his leadership career by selling his soul.
1.28pm: Kevin Andrews says he accepts the result of the ballot, but 35 is a significant number in the party room, which makes a strong point about the position on the CPRS. He says of Turnbull: “of course he has my support, he’s the leader of the party.”
1.23pm: No spill. Motion lost 48-35 in a secret ballot.
1.14pm: Cannot find a single Lib who is taking Kevin Andrews’ candidacy seriously or as a genuine threat. With Abbott not in the mix Turnbull shouldn’t get rolled.
1.13pm: Parliament security, at the request of the Opposition Leader’s office, are preventing journalists from congregating near the party room. Not sure why, as people inside the meeting will text developments to the press gallery anyway.
12.56pm: Samantha Maiden of The Australian writes on Twitter: turnbull has just walked into office with dep COS credlin. looks really upset
12.55pm: Went down to Senate garden to hear Turnbull at White Ribbon Day event. Took the pledge to never commit excuse or conceal violence against women, as did all the blokes at event. He spoke well, looked in control. Spoke to Joe Hockey afterwards - he says MT will survive today. Party room starting shortly.
12.54pm: Wrap-ups of the Andrews presser from The Australian here, and from ABC online here.
12.48pm: Surreal live footage on Sky of Turnbull speaking right now at a White Ribbon Day event. In the background stands Kevin Rudd.
12.46pm: Speers also reporting the Senate privileges committee report into the Utegate affair will be tabled this afternoon. Not sure how much worse Malcolm Turnbull’s day could get.
12.39pm: And here’s a picture Steve Fielding with his favourite graph in the Senate chamber today during debate on the CPRS.
12.35pm: Secret ballot? David Speers on Sky News reports a source saying there will be a secret ballot rather than a show of hands on whether to have a leadership spill. If this is what happens it raises the stakes for Malcolm Turnbull.
12.26pm: Andrews wraps up after getting what he describes as a “silly question” about how he’d handle Barack Obama or Gordon Brown.
David Speers on Sky News says that “most” sources say Turnbull “overwhelmingly” has the numbers.
12.24pm: Live discussion coming up on The Australian with the paper’s contributing editor Peter van Onselen. You can join it here from 12.30pm.
12.18pm: Andrews still getting grilled by the gallery, including on his statements on Sudanese immigration and his position on border protection.
Declares, “I would beat Kevin Rudd”, then quickly clarifies the Australian people would decide.
Wisecrack: You’ve had Kevin07, you could have Kevin11 or Kevin10.
12.09pm: Kevin Andrews speaks to the press, describes the ETS as the “most significant economic issue that I have seen since I’ve been in Parliament”. Says he’s standing for the leadership because he believes “people are now starting to understand what [the ETS] means for them”.
Referring to the leaked emails from the UEA, Andrews says we’ve seen “this whole revelation” of what appears to be “quite deliberate manipulation of the data” upon which climate change policy is being decided.
11.52am: Kevin Andrews is about to hold a press conference. The ABC is streaming it here.
11.50am: Bruce Hawker has just filed an analysis piece for The Punch here.
11.49am: Resignations Three Lib MPs - Mitch Fifield, Matthias Cormann and Brett Mason - have tendered their resignation in writing to Turnbull as parliamentary secretaries. They are refusing to serve under him. Turnbull has not accepted their resignations. One MP tells The Punch: “There will be more resignations.” It’s a mutiny.
11.45am: The Senate has voted to extend sitting hours tomorrow until 11.40pm, in the hope the CPRS Bill could get through in this last sitting week of the year. The vote split the Opposition, with some Coalition Senators crossing the floor to vote against the extension.
11.38am: In the understatement of the day, one of the anti-Turnbull agitators Dennis Jensen just told Sky News “unfortunately emotions are running high.”
11.16am: Sorry Malcolm, you’re not really like Robert Mugabe.. From AAP: [Peter] Slipper later clarified his earlier comment likening Mr Turnbull to Mr Mugabe, saying he was referring to the “result” of the party room meeting, and not his leader personally.
So that’s that sorted then.
10.53am: It’s on. Turnbull’s office confirms there’ll be a vote on whether to spill the leadership at 1pm. Massive u-turn from position earlier today (see below) where he said there would “absolutely” not be a partyroom meeting to discuss the leadership.
Report here at The Australian.
10.45am: Reports of partyroom meeting at 1pm from several sources. Samantha Maiden from The Australian says on Twitter: “Libs partyroom on at 1pm say Libs, no Nats could be leadership.”
10.41am: Analysis from Chris Uhlmann of the ABC live now. Excerpt:
Mr Turnbull’s other problem is that he is leading a Coalition straddling the future and the past and one which, as yet, has no idea how to make the transition from the Howard era.
And that is tearing at the stitching of the Coalition’s dual nature; it’s an amalgam of liberalism and conservatism and there is a struggle for the soul of the party. It is just possible that it could tear itself apart.
Read the rest here.
10.27am: Early results of a poll now running on news.com.au about who should lead the Liberal Party. The current leadership team has the public’s support so far, with Hockey nudging Turnbull by just 3 votes here out of almost 1000 cast. You can add your vote on this page.
10am: Malcolm Farr has just posted on his blog, arguing Malcolm Turnbull was standing up for a principle.
9.40am: If it’s even possible, Wilson Tuckey has stepped up his rhetoric, saying Malcolm Turnbull runs the Coalition as if “nobody else exists”. Asked if he was destabilising the party Mr Tuckey said: “Yes, I’m destabilising the opposition leadership, quite deliberately but using proper process.”
9.21am: The Daily Telegraph has examined the impact of the CPRS as it stands now on your household bottom line. You can read it here.
9.10am: CPRS negotiator Ian (Macca) Macfarlane said he was surprised when Andrew Robb came out opposed to the Bill in the party room yesterday. He’s told Seven and Sky News he would discuss the matter with Robb, who stepped away from negotiations five weeks ago due to illness, at a later date. Tony Abbott rejected suggestions Mr Robb’s turnaround amounted to “treachery”, saying he is a very honorable man.
8.56am: The Mugabe parallel. Peter Slipper said this morning: “The leader last night was about as dodgy as a Zimbabwean election organised by Robert Mugabe.” I’ve heard of hyperbole, but Malcolm Turnbull and Robert Mugabe? Surely a sign that basic respect and common sense have been abandoned in some quarters of the Liberal party this week.
8.44am: New online poll on the leadership. news.com.au has thrown it open, asking who among a wide range of Liberal frontbenchers, including Turnbull, should lead the party. Cast your vote and see the results on this page.
8.40am: Andrews puts up his hand, saying he’d be prepared to stand against Turnbull. Just minutes after Turnbull said there was “absolutely” no chance of a spill tomorrow, Andrews said on Macquarie radio it would be “extraordinary if that was not facilitated”.
Given it’s Kevin Andrews, it’s not quite of the order of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, but still…
8.34am: Turnbull has said there’s “absolutely” no way he’ll agree to the partyroom convening tomorrow for a potential spill. Is this position tenable?
8.15am: Turnbull on AM, asked if the reports were accurate that his majority was just 1 vote. “No, no, it’s better than that,” he said quickly, sounding assured.
Adds there’s no candidate and at this stage only a letter from two backbenchers calling for a meeting. Says the answer is “absolutely” no to a possible partyroom meeting tomorrow.
The Andrew Robb outburst in the partyroom was a surprise to him, he says.
Says there are “some people who want us to be the no-action-on-climate-change party”. This position has “no credibility”, says Turnbull, adding he is confident he will lead the party into the next election.
8.01am. Something to enrage climate sceptics? - a new report co-authored by 26 climate scientists says “key climate change measures are tracking near or beyond worse-case scenarios” and “finds the statistical global warming trend has continued over the past decade”. Likely to be quoted by government figures through the day and dismissed by some on the Coalition side. More here.
7.46am: More from Turnbull. An excerpt from the AAP report:
[Turnbull] said there was no point in deferring action on climate change until after December’s global climate change meeting in Copenhagen, as the coalition had been debating a carbon reduction scheme since 2006.
“This is a good time to move on, get it resolved and then move on to other issues.”
Mr Turnbull challenged sceptics in his party to accept that in the 21st century, climate change is a major issue and needed to be addressed by the coalition.
“The Australian people want action on climate change. I am committed to the Liberal party being credible and relevant on climate change.”
7.31am: Turnbull speaks to the Seven Network, saying at issue is the party’s credibility on climate change with the electorate. “If the public see us as being credible and responsible on climate change then we can win their confidence,” he said.
7.02am: Tony Abbott rules himself out. The Member for Warringah told the Nine Network: “No, I won’t be challenging for the leadership.” (Still, things can change ... ) AAP also reports an unexpected shadow cabinet meeting has been scheduled for 8am.
6.47am: Peter van Onselen of The Australian says on ABC radio that Tony Abbott appears to be the only sensible alternative as leader. Adds that it’s not a “push” against Turnbull, but rather a move to remove him on the basis that he doesn’t respond to his backbench.
6.37am: A poll on The Australian’s website asks if readers believe Turnbull will still be leader at the end of the week. Two-thirds say they think he’ll be gone, with over 2300 votes cast already. You can see the poll on this page.
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