The Liberal Party is on track for a narrow victory at this Saturday’s byelection in the Western Australian seat of Canning but it may not be enough to save Tony Abbott’s leadership.
…A Fairfax Media/Ipsos poll shows that if the election were held on the Saturday just gone, the government would have suffered a 10-percentage point swing to hold the seat by 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
Liberal MPs say a swing of that magnitude on September 19 would be enough to precipitate a leadership spill.
…Internal critics were deflated on Friday when Immigration Minister Peter Dutton was caught on camera joking with Mr Abbott about Pacific islands being swamped due to climate change. On Sunday, Mr Dutton apologised for any offence he had caused but Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said the apology should be unreserved, not just because he was caught.
Yes, they are that useless. At The Australian there is more:
Some MPs want the Communications Minister to make a public declaration of support for Mr Abbott — with similar assurances from other cabinet ministers — to end the talk of a spill.
Coalition whip Andrew Nikolic confirmed last night that he sent a text message to Mr Turnbull at 6.12am on Friday to alert him to news reports of a potential leadership spill and ask him to make a public statement of support for the Prime Minister. Mr Nikolic said his message, unprompted by Mr Abbott, was that the government could not afford the speculation a week out from the Canning by-election and that Mr Turnbull should kill it off.
Others told The Australian last night that Mr Turnbull was reluctant to make a public statement because it would be inevitably followed by further questions, creating a “slippery slope” of leadership speculation.
This sorry episode in Australian leadership can’t end soon enough for the nation.
