Since Dr Jensen went public on Tuesday night with his call for Prime Minister Tony Abbott to stand aside, it has been well canvassed that he, along with fellow WA maverick Wilson Tuckey set in motion the spill that toppled Mr Turnbull and put Mr Abbott in charge. WA MP Dennis Jensen is a former physicist. The pair lifted the lid on boiling party room angst over the Turnbull-led opposition supporting Labor's plan for an emissions trading scheme. In that light, it would be fair to assume that Mr Abbott, who this week opened the door to the frank approach of Dr Jensen when he promised the most "consultative and collegiate" government, owes Dr Jensen a debt of gratitude. But those who know Dr Jensen, a former CSIRO physicist and one of the few scientists in the world who reject that climate change is real, point out he owes a larger debt to the Liberal Party.

In both 2006 and 2009, Dr Jensen needed the protection of Liberal head office to retain his position as the candidate for Tangney, a blue ribbon in south Perth. WA Liberal MP Dennis Jensen called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to resign. The West Australian newspaper reported in 2006 that Dr Jensen made a "desperate late night call" to then prime minister John Howard after local Liberal members turfed him out in a preselection vote. The decision was overturned after Mr Howard's subsequent intervention. His own branches threw him out again in 2009 before the Liberal state council intervened again. Perhaps his tenuous grip on his own seat inspired Dr Jensen to go public against Mr Abbott, insisting he was acting on behalf of constituents, who, he said, are all demanding a change of prime minister.

"Not one has said, 'how dare you think about removing a prime minister'," he told the ABC. Dr Jensen said he does not want to be "seen as a hit man". "I believe that it is necessary that this is brought to a head and lanced, but the reality is that I don't want to be seen as the person where all I'm doing is, in effect, you know, pulling the trigger if you will," he said. Later, on Sydney radio, Dr Jensen was forced to defend himself again. "If you look at my record, I have a record of calling things out when I see they are wrong. When I was in my first term, [as a member of] the Howard government, a very good government … I opposed the emissions trading scheme when it was our policy.

"When Brendan Nelson was in power I said the same thing. When Malcolm Turnbull was in power I said the same thing. "I have always been one to come out on my views on what I believe to be in the best interests of the country." But some of Dr Jensen's colleagues are wondering about his latest intervention, which could end in the return of Mr Turnbull to the leadership. Fairfax Media understands that Dr Jensen would back Social Services Minister Scott Morrison if there is a spill and a wide field emerged. Others have congratulated Dr Jensen on his attempt to "lance the boil", saying a large part of the frustration with Mr Abbott and his office has been the crackdown on Liberals expressing an opinion that strays from the official lines of the day.

A Liberal MP said the "class of 1996" who came in with Mr Howard - MPs such as Jackie Kelly, Warren Entsch and Ross Cameron - were allowed to speak their mind in a way that is no longer possible. Some have complained that the Prime Minister's office keeps count of which MPs get out publicly to defend the government and those who do not. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann described Mr Entsch and Dr Jensen as "valued colleagues" while Treasurer Joe Hockey warned that the unrest would have a consequence. "Australia threw them [Labor] out, they will throw my colleagues and me out if we are not focused on what is important for the Australian people," he said. Dr Jensen's shadecloth idea, which he conceded in 2007 was uncosted, would require four satellites over hundreds of square kilometres.

At the time, Labor's Anthony Albanese said: "I had to be convinced [the idea] came from Dr Jensen and not from George Jetson and his boy Elroy." Follow us on Twitter