This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Malcolm Turnbull’s lieutenants have rallied around his leadership as the energy debate continues to destabilise the government and eyes turn to the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton.

A week of internal brawling about the national energy guarantee has seen Tony Abbott escalate his attacks on the policy, and Dutton – while holding the line on the policy – has publicly articulated the circumstances in which he would have to resign from the cabinet, rather than support the policy.

Turnbull loyalist Christopher Pyne sounded a warning shot to restive colleagues through his regular Friday appearance on the Nine Network, criticising Abbott’s supporters for “hyperventilating” over the government’s energy policy.

“We are not on the ropes,” he said in answer to a question about the government’s re-election prospects.

“The polls are about 50-50 and there’s a lot of hyperventilating going on and there’s a few people I think who are trying to put the band back together from the late 2000 and noughties.”

Asked who “they” were, Pyne said, “I think we know who they are”.

Turnbull woos dissidents over energy guarantee as Dutton declares he’s a ‘team player’ Read more

Conservative backbenchers including Eric Abetz, Andrew Gee, George Christensen, Kevin Andrews, Tony Pasin, Andrew Hastie, Craig Kelly and Barnaby Joyce have joined Tony Abbott in publicly questioning the Neg and reserving their right to cross the floor.

Junior frontbencher Keith Pitt, who has not rejected reports he is considering resigning his assistant ministry position, is yet to confirm what he will do.

The push from the Abbott-led contingent within the party room has grown stronger since the Longman byelection, which saw the LNP vote drop to 30% – a swing which, if repeated at the general election, would cause the loss of numerous Queensland seats, including Dickson, Forde and Petrie.

Western Australian MPs are also nervous following the loss of the last state election, with Swan, Hasluck and Pearce in danger of falling to Labor.

Some MPs believe Dutton is popular with the base in both Queensland and Western Australia, and would articulate a policy agenda with more appeal to the voters flirting with political insurgents such as One Nation.

Dutton faced down attempts from Sydney 2GB radio host Ray Hadley on Thursday to condemn the national energy guarantee and Turnbull’s leadership, but did not say he supported the policy.

His explanation that if “it gets to a point where I can’t accept what the government is proposing or I don’t agree” he would follow Westminster protocols and resign from the cabinet, raised temperatures within the party room, with Coalition MPs telling News Corp Dutton was being urged to do just that, and challenge Turnbull for the leadership.

But Mathias Cormann, one of Dutton’s confidants, said his colleague’s comments had been taken out of context.

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“He was responding to a question and explaining in a factual way about the way the system works,” Cormann said.

Cormann said he was unaware of any talk to replace Turnbull with Dutton.

“Nobody has raised that with me,” he said.

“We are both very committed to the success of the Turnbull government, to winning the next election. I did have four walks with Peter this week … we talk about a lot, but don’t think that we just talk politics as we walk up that hill.

“… We strongly support the Turnbull leadership of course, and we want to see the Coalition government successfully re-elected early next year when the election is due.”

The Nationals deputy leader, Bridget McKenzie, insisted there was unity within the Coalition.

“Reserving your right on any piece of legislation doesn’t automatically mean that you are crossing the floor, so I think while those discussions are going on and people are considering their position, that they’re allowed to do so and they continue to have positive and productive discussions with the leadership team, which is exactly what is going on,” she told ABC radio.

McKenzie insisted Dutton was also on board.

“I did note Dutt’s commentary around making sure when you are on a team you play for the team and you are all kicking for the goal in the same direction and I think that they were really positive comments that he made,” she said.

“I am not aware of any discussions going on around that particular issue, but I am buoyed by Dutt’s public comments around get on board, this is our government policy, let’s lock in behind it and get on with bringing power process for Australian households and businesses.”

On Thursday, Dutton said he was a loyal member of the Turnbull cabinet and would not air any grievances publicly, but would “do the best I can to turn these polls around”.

“I want to make sure that I can be a part of restoring our fortunes, making sure that we are in a winning position by the time of the next election, and I am not going to deviate from that path,” he said.