Politics

Conservative MPs call on Peter Dutton to replace Malcolm Turnbull: Report

Aug 17, 2018

The home affairs minister is reportedly being urged to challenge Malcolm Turnbull's leadership. Source: Getty

Peter Dutton could replace Malcolm Turnbull as Australia’s prime minister within weeks, if fellow conservative MPs have their way.

The Home Affairs Minister is reportedly being urged to challenge Turnbull’s leadership as an internal campaign against the Prime Minister’s National Energy Guarantee policy gains momentum, The Daily Telegraph reports.

According to the report, up to 10 MPs are threatening to cross the floor and several frontbenchers are considering resigning after Turnbull got his signature energy plan through the Coalition party room on Tuesday.

Nationals MP Keith Pitt is reportedly prepared to resign from the frontbench over the issue, while Senator Jim Molan will vote for the policy but says it is “sub-optimal”, 2GB reports.

Conservative MPs have told The Daily Telegraph that a torn Dutton was considering his options to challenge the leadership on a policy platform of lower immigration and cheaper energy bills.

One source reportedly said that Dutton would not stand by and accept losing his seat “as the government tanks”.

“There are only two good outcomes here — either the energy policy is dead and we can go to the election fighting Labor on it, or Malcolm goes,” one told the publication.

However, speaking with talkback host Ray Hadley on Thursday, Dutton refused to publicly criticise the prime minister: “I work as a team player, I’m not going to be a part of the cabinet and then bag the Prime Minister out.”

And things aren’t looking too good for Turnbull, with the latest Newspoll published by The Australian showing Labor has retained a 51-49 lead over the Coalition on a two-party preferred basis.

According to The Australian, it’s the 38th consecutive Newspoll the Coalition has fallen behind Labor on the two-party preferred vote. Turnbull’s popularity as preferred prime minister has also dropped. His lead over Bill Shorten has been slashed from 19 to 12 points.

The results also show Aussies aren’t impressed with how Turnbull is performing as leader, with his performance rating dropping six points in just two weeks. This means he is current sitting on a rating of minus 19, almost equalling that of Shorten.