Tony Abbott confronts Cabinet over leaks on national security split; says discussion was 'come to Jesus moment'

Updated

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has confronted his Cabinet colleagues over extraordinary leaks of a split on national security, describing it as a "come to Jesus moment" for senior ministers.

Details of a Cabinet row about a contentious proposal to give the Immigration Minister the power to strip citizenship from Australians linked to terrorism emerged late last week in Fairfax newspapers.

Mr Abbott told Tuesday morning's meeting of Liberal and National Party MPs that Cabinet ministers had Monday night been reminded of their responsibilities to maintain confidentiality.

He warned ministers of the "personal and political" consequences of divulging Cabinet processes — consequences that could include being dumped from the ministry.

The Prime Minister told the meeting of MPs that it was a "come to Jesus moment", which one MP told the ABC they interpreted to mean that ministers had "seen the light".

Mr Abbott's statements came after a partyroom colleague expressed disappointment that Cabinet confidentiality had been breached so thoroughly.

Details of Tuesday morning's party room discussion were also leaked by Coalition MPs, ahead of the official briefing to the media.

Last week's Fairfax report included details of a Cabinet row over Immigration Minister Peter Dutton's proposal to strip Australians of citizenship if they were suspected of taking part in terrorist activity.

The report said ministers including Malcolm Turnbull, Barnaby Joyce, Christopher Pyne and Attorney General George Brandis spoke out against the proposal.

Mr Pyne said he is confident Cabinet will heed the Prime Minister's warning about leaking confidential information.

"Obviously the PM has taken a firm line about this as he should, and he told the party room today that we had a discussion about that last night at Cabinet," he said on Tuesday.

"I'm quite certain into the future that we won't see a repeat of what we saw last week."

Labor leader Bill Shorten opened Question Time hostilities, asking the Prime Minister what steps had been taken to identify which ministers were responsible.

No steps were spelled out by Mr Abbott, who instead tried to pressure the Opposition over its stance on the moves to limit citizenship.

"Everything this Government does, including what we did in Cabinet last Monday night, is designed to strengthen our national security and strengthen our economic security," Mr Abbott told parliament.

Confrontation response shows Abbott's 'out of touch'

The controversial citizenship proposal is now the subject of a discussion paper, while another move to strip dual citizens of their Australian citizenship is set to be introduced to parliament in the next couple of weeks.

More than 40 backbenchers have written to the Prime Minister expressing support for both proposals — something that earned the gratitude of Mr Abbott in Tuesday's meeting.

In Tuesday's partyroom meeting one MP rose to congratulate Treasurer Joe Hockey for his handling of questions about the potential for changes to superannuation, which was characterised as giving the Coalition some "flexibility" in developing future policy.

In the last few weeks Mr Hockey and Mr Abbott have appeared at odds over superannuation, with Mr Abbott ruling out any changes in the future and the Treasurer saying he would not say "never-ever".

The meeting — which did not include senators because of Senate estimates committee meetings — did not discuss same-sex marriage.

Labor's Anthony Albanese said Mr Abbott's description of the Cabinet confrontation showed he was "out of touch".

"You scratch your head and wonder how this guy ever got to the Lodge, with his three-word slogans," he said.

Topics: abbott-tony, federal-government, government-and-politics, terrorism, australia

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