Tony Abbott has survived an attempt to remove him as Prime Minister, with Liberal MPs rejecting a push by rebel MPs to oust him by 61 votes to 39.
The result was announced by the government’s Chief Whip Philip Ruddock, who told reporters gathered outside the Liberal party room that the Prime Minister was addressing his MPs.
Queensland Liberal MP Ross Vasta, whose wife recently gave birth, was absent from the meeting and one unknown MP voted informally.
The party room, which met in a special meeting on Monday at 9am, took just minutes to resolve a spill motion but the result was much closer than the 30 votes in favour that had been predicted ahead of the spill.
While Mr Abbott remains Prime Minister he faces a bitterly divided party room, with Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi lashing out at plotters trying to undermine Mr Abbott and calling on Malcolm Turnbull and other ministerial plotters to resign from cabinet.
Ahead of the meeting dissidents pushing for change warned they would not be deterred by an initial defeat.
West Australian backbencher Don Randall seconded the motion put by Luke Simpkins to spill the leader and deputy positions.
Arriving in Canberra for the resumption of Parliament for the year, Mr Randall said “no matter what happens…I suspect this is just the beginning of a process where we have to sort it out once and for all”.
Newspoll results published by News Corp publications on Monday show Mr Abbott’s approval rating has plunged to minus 44, with just 24 per cent of voters satisfied with his performance, compared to 68 per cent who are dissatisfied.
Some 64 per cent of the 1178 voters surveyed said they preferred Mr Turnbull to lead the Liberal Party compared to 25 per cent who said they preferred Mr Abbott.
It is also expected Mr Abbott could face a second push to remove him from office.
More to come
This story first appeared in The Age
