Sally talbot resigns as Liberal leader, Liberal MP says
TONY ABBOTT’S resignation as Liberal leader comes as the party prepares to be confronted on the issue.
The Prime Minister has been forced into another difficult battle over the future of the coalition, with many senior Liberals saying they would vote with the Labor and Coalition on the issue, rather than join a new government.
The Government’s deputy leader, Christopher Pyne, said today that Mr Abbott, who made the decision himself on Monday, had always wanted the Liberal Party to vote for a united Opposition, but the last-ditch plea of his successor to the Prime Minister had no effect.
“We will not give that preference to the Government because that doesn’t make any sense, it is just wrong,” Mr Pyne said on Sky News.
The Prime Minister faces a rebellion by his backbench of about 50 Liberal MPs, who have joined in the opposition to Mr Abbott’s plan to leave Mr Shorten with a minority government in return for breaking the Labor/Greens filibuster on legislation he wants to implement as a key national security policy.
Senior Government sources admitted, however, that there were times when Mr Abbott made a strategic call to quit, but such decisions were never carried out.
Mr Abbott has already been in discussions with the Liberal frontbenchers for weeks about his fate, with Mr Pyne telling reporters today that there were times when he told Mr Abbott the Liberal Party would make a deal with the Government for his resignation, but that, in the end, no deal had been struck.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said his party would only make a deal with the Coalition if Mr Abbott did not offer any concessions which were to be implemented within 72 hours.
On Wednesday, Mr Abbott did concede that a leadership challenge could take place but this would be made in consultation with his caucus, saying Mr Shorten was trying to “undermine” a “legitimate discussion about change in the Libera우리카지노l Party”.
And Mr Shorten has been forced today to admit that Mr Abbott had made a last-minute plea to end the election, on the grounds that a leadership bid might put the Government out of government.
Mr바카라사이트 Shorten said Mr Ab바카라사이트bott had been in the process of making calls “at different times” since the campaign, but said it was in no way unusual for Prime Ministers to seek a decision on their own.
“I think that’s a very difficult matter to go into because he made the decisio