PM says he will leave parliament if he loses and goads Dutton’s supporters to produce numbers

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The federal government’s civil war has reached fever pitch, with Malcolm Turnbull warning that he will leave the parliament if he loses the prime ministership, and daring his colleagues to put their names to paper if they intend to tear him down.

A resolute Turnbull appeared before the media on Thursday after a second demand from Peter Dutton that he spill the party leadership, declaring he wanted to wait on a legal opinion on whether the Queenslander was eligible to sit in parliament before he would convene a second party room meeting on Friday.

He also goaded the Dutton camp to produce their numbers on a petition if they wanted to terminate his prime ministership. “These are momentous times and it’s important that people are accountable for what they’re doing,” the prime minister said.

Turnbull digs in and demands Dutton show evidence of support - politics live Read more

With the inevitable crunch point looming, Turnbull castigated his opponents, both inside the government and a media chorus hostile to his prime ministership.

He referred explicitly to claims from MPs that have surfaced over the past 24 hours of intimidation tactics during the backroom canvassing. MPs report that organisational figures are active in the number crunching and threats have been made to people’s preselections.

“The reality is that a minority in the party room supported by others outside the parliament have sought to bully, intimidate others into making this change of leadership that they’re seeking,” the prime minister said. “It’s been described by many people, including those who feel they cannot resist it, as a form of madness.”

He said the escalation of the current leadership crisis was “remarkable” given opinion polls suggested the government was only just behind Labor, and “thoroughly competitive”.

The Dutton camp has gone into overdrive over the past two days to force a resolution of the party leadership before parliament rises.

Turnbull was hit early on Thursday morning by the defection of senior players, including the finance minister, Mathias Cormann – which is a body blow for the prime minister.

Ministers who voted for Dutton in the snap leadership spill on Tuesday also resigned en masse, plunging the parliament into chaos.

Play Video 0:34 'The government is killing itself': Katharine Murphy sums up spill – video

The government had to adjourn the House of Representatives in an attempt to contain the disarray, a move that triggered uproar on the opposition benches. The government was forced to manage Senate question time with only a handful of frontbenchers courtesy of the cascading resignations.

Turnbull backers are rallying in a bare-knuckle fight to hold out Dutton from taking the party leadership.

The treasurer, Scott Morrison, will run against Dutton with moderate backing, and Turnbull’s refusal to call a party room meeting for Thursday afternoon is an effort to buy him time to build numbers.

The Seven Network and the West Australian newspaper are reporting that Turnbull’s deputy, Julie Bishop, also intends to throw her hat in the ring. Guardian Australia is seeking to confirm those reports.

Turnbull said on Thursday that if the Dutton numbers materialise and a party room meeting is triggered on Friday – as now seems all but inevitable – he will accept that as a de-facto vote of no-confidence in his prime ministership, and not contest any ballot.

“I will invite a spill motion to be moved,” he said. “If the motion is carried, I will treat that as a vote of no-confidence and I will not stand as a candidate in the ballot.”

Turnbull said the voting public would be “rightly appalled” at events in Canberra over this past week, a sentiment echoed by the Nationals frontbencher Darren Chester, who has threatened to decamp to the crossbench if Turnbull is toppled.

Chester said he was “bitterly disappointed” and voters would be disgusted.