Australia | Abbott backed by Cabinet as lawmakers publicly break ranks

Senior Cabinet members rallied behind Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott after two lawmakers broke ranks and said he’d lost their support, stoking speculation he will face an internal party challenge as soon as next week.
Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann both publicly backed Abbott yesterday, a day after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop issued a statement saying she wasn’t campaigning for Australia’s top job.
“The Cabinet is unanimous in its support of the prime minister,” Hockey told reporters in Canberra. “We are getting on with the job of government.”
Abbott is struggling to quell disquiet over his leadership amid a backlash against his spending cuts and a decision to bestow a knighthood on Prince Philip. As his poll ratings slump, some lawmakers have indicated his Liberal Party may hold a leadership vote – or spill – when parliament returns next week, with his coalition parties due to hold a joint meeting Tuesday.
Abbott’s Liberal-National coalition won power in September 2013 after six years of Labor rule dominated in the later period by power struggles between former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard that eroded Labor’s support. Since then his coalition has suffered the fastest poll reversal for a newly elected government in at least 30 years as it seeks to rein in a budget deficit forecast at A$40.4 billion (USD31 billion) this financial year.
“I am determined to deliver steady, stable, solid dependable government,” Abbott said in a radio interview yesterday when asked if he will be challenged. “What I think every one in the party room understands is that the last thing we should do is go anywhere near reproducing the rabble of the Labor years.”
Liberal backbencher Dennis Jensen told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Tuesday that Abbott should be replaced. Jensen was one of two Liberal lawmakers who signed an initial spill motion in 2009 – when the coalition was in opposition – that saw then-leader Malcolm Turnbull lose to Abbott by a single vote. Turnbull is now Communications Minister.
“In my view the more quickly you do this, the better,” Jensen said, without saying he was prepared to call a leadership spill.
Another backbencher, Warren Entsch, has said he would seek a “resolution” of the issue next week, ABC reported.
Abbott’s government relies on support from minor parties and independents to pass legislation in the Senate, as it lacks a majority in Australia’s upper house. He’s been forced to abandon or re-work savings measures, including charging people A$7 to visit a doctor, after opposition in the Senate.
Abbott’s allies have suffered recent losses in state votes that have raised nerves within coalition ranks at the federal level. Queensland Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman lost his own seat in the state parliament in a Jan. 31 ballot and his government is expected to be ousted after a single term.
Labor won power in Victoria state in a November election, ousting a first term Abbott-allied Liberal-National coalition. New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, holds an election in March, with Liberal-National Premier Mike Baird seeking to retain office.
Senior coalition lawmakers are backing Abbott to stay.
“The prime minister enjoys the unanimous support of the Cabinet and I believe he enjoys the overwhelming support of the party room,” Cormann told ABC radio yesterday. Jason Scott, Bloomberg