Who is to blame? What is the future? How can the party move forward? The ‘wreckers’ in their own words

Peter Dutton on the new Liberal leader

Congratulations to Scott Morrison. Julie Bishop has been an amazing foreign minister for the party. My job is to provide loyalty to Scott Morrison, make sure we win the election and we defeat Bill Shorten.

Tony Abbott on the leadership spill

We have lost the prime minister; there is still a government to save. That’s what all of us will do our best to do now, today, the government. As we have been reminding ourselves, we are the custodians of great Liberal traditions. The Liberal tradition of smaller government, greater freedom, lower taxes, the conservative traditional support for families, small business, and values and institutions that have stood the rich test of time. But above all we are patriots; we want to make the country strong and as good as it possibly can be, based on the wonderful achievements we already have to our name.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Former prime minister Tony Abbott leaves the Liberal party room meeting at Parliament House in Canberra, Friday, 24 August, 2018. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Mattias Cormann on the leadership crisis

I have not been involved in doing the numbers. The situation that I was presented with, having served loyally to Malcolm Turnbull, having served the prime minister since September 2015, when he became leader of the Liberal party.On Tuesday, I was faced with a surprise leadership ballot that I was unaware of. It crystallised the view of the party. I had representations from four cabinet ministers in the morning and one other later … all told me they had voted for Malcolm Turnbull in the leadership ballot but had changed their view and a number of backbenchers as well. In my mind that meant that the leadership of the Liberal party had not been properly settled. It was clear in my mind, and it was a difficult decision, difficult conversation with Malcolm Turnbull. And in my mind, we needed to have a proper resolution and today it was properly resolved. The party room elected Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg as our leader and deputy leader.



Dutton was a close shave for Australia but voters won't forget this bruising week | Katharine Murphy Read more

Greg Hunt on the leadership change



Two incredible people, two incredible friends of mine, have been elected as prime minister and deputy leader of the Liberal party. Scott and Josh, I have known for an extraordinary amount of time. They are amazing people, they will take the party forward as the next-generation leadership team. I think they will do an extraordinary job.

The line has been drawn under a decade; this is a moment of unity for the party, absolutely. Two of my closest friends have been elected; one was my best man, the other one has been my closest confidant. They will do a great job, and [I’m] genuinely thrilled for them. Sometimes you can lose and still be remarkably happy ….



