Tony Abbott tells MPs to stop 'navel gazing' as he fights to remain leader, Jeff Kennett says PM's leadership 'terminal'

Updated

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has appealed to disgruntled party colleagues to stop "navel gazing" and dismissed the judgment of former Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett that his leadership is "terminal".

While four of Mr Abbott's backbenchers have publicly demanded their concerns about his leadership be resolved — possibly through a vote at next Tuesday's party room meeting — senior Cabinet figures have moved to defend his performance.

Treasurer Joe Hockey dared those in the party agitating for change to reveal themselves and Trade Minister Andrew Robb insisted Mr Abbott had heard their message and would change.

The Prime Minister has been battling to save his leadership in the wake of damaging losses for conservative governments in Queensland and Victoria and a "captain's call" to give Prince Philip a knighthood.

Mr Abbott warned his party against responding to the troubles by ousting the leader, as the former Labor government did by replacing Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard.

"We have a robust party room, we've always had a robust party room and I hope that will always continue," he told Macquarie Radio.

"I've had members of Parliament stand up and tell me to my face in the party room over the years that I've got this wrong, I've got that wrong, I'm this, I'm that, I'm a so-and-so. And that's their democratic right.

"What I think everyone in the party room understands is that the last thing we should do is go anywhere near reproducing the rabble of the Labor years."

But senior Victorian figure Mr Kennett said Mr Abbott's pain was largely "self-inflicted" and that he has lost the support of the public, including traditional Liberal supporters.

"Sadly the realisation has dawned on most politicians that where the leadership of the party is now is terminal," he told AM.

"It needs to be resolved as quickly as possible so that the party can move on."

Mr Abbott dismissed that assessment, saying only that "obviously Jeff Kennett's entitled to his view".

And he warned his colleagues to focus on "our country".

"Let's stop the navel gazing, let's forget the internals and let's get on with governing the country," he said.

Queensland LNP senator Ian Macdonald is the latest backbencher to speak out. He told AM he did not support a leadership challenge, but could not say if Mr Abbott should remain in the job.

"That's part of a wider conversation we have to have," Senator Macdonald said.

Hockey dares spill agitators to show their hands

Disgruntled MPs Dennis Jensen, Mal Brough and Warren Entsch say the issue needs to be confronted next week and the ABC has spoken to other MPs who back the revolt.

But this morning Mr Hockey — whose fate is seen to be tied to the Prime Minister's — rejected claims a larger group was prepared to move against Mr Abbott.

"That's gossip, I don't know. If there's dozens, come out dozens," he told reporters in Canberra.

"There are 102 people in the party room, about 43 in the ministry. I have no doubt that everyone is supporting the Prime Minister — the Cabinet is unanimous in its support of the Prime Minister.

"I can understand that various members of parliament have grievances and on behalf of their constituents they should air them."

Victorian frontbencher Andrew Robb also rejected the suggestion that the leadership row be brought to a head.

"We need to show stability, we need to remove the surprises, we need to show unity," Mr Robb said on ABC Local Radio 774.

The Trade Minister said the backbench had "quite properly" sent a message to senior ministers and that at yesterday's six-hour cabinet meeting they settled on where they had gone wrong.

He conceded the Government made "mistakes" by moving to introduce "surprise" policies like the GP co-payment and higher education changes.

"We feel we've fingered the things that have unsettled people and have overshadowed a lot of our achievements," Mr Robb said.

"We are very confident that if we can get some clear air for the leader and the leadership group we can turn things around."

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann also rallied to Mr Abbott's cause this morning.

"The Prime Minister enjoys the unanimous support of the Cabinet, I believe he enjoys the overwhelming support of the party room, there is no alternative candidate," Senator Cormann told Radio National.

Bishop 'insulted' by loyalty pledge request, says Pyne

The likely contenders to nominate for any leadership ballot are Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull and deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop.

Yesterday afternoon Ms Bishop released a statement saying she had told Cabinet that she would not challenge for the leadership, after several reports that on the weekend she had refused to give Mr Abbott such a commitment.

Federal frontbencher Christopher Pyne has told Channel Nine Ms Bishop did not rule out a challenge until yesterday because she was "insulted" her loyalty had been questioned.

"Julie has been the deputy since 2007 and I think she was insulted, a little offended a bit about the idea that she wasn't totally loyal to Tony Abbott," he said.

"I think she felt that she didn't need to prove her loyalty."

Mr Pyne said he was "totally loyal to the Prime Minister". But he added he had already proved he could work under many different leaders.

"When you're in politics for a long period of time, you serve many different leaders and your star doesn't wane or fall based on the leadership, it wanes or falls based on your own abilities and the hard work you put in serving the electorate," he told ABC Local Radio in Adelaide.

Queensland MP Andrew Laming suggested Mr Abbott could quell the backbench unrest by addressing policy issues raised by backbenchers like fellow Queenslander Mal Brough, who spoke out against the GP co-payment last night.

"If we could get improvement in the health frontier with a move away from completely a co-payment I think the Coalition would be well and truly back on track," Mr Laming told Radio National.

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, liberals, political-parties, abbott-tony, hockey-joe, australia

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