Source: news.com.au
When questioned if he would ask his supporters to back Treasurer Scott Morrison for the job if a spill was carried, Mr Turnbull refused to answer, but said he would not give in to bullies. “I mean, politics is a tough business,” he said.
“You have got to judge the political actions by their outcomes. I think what we’re witnessing – what we have witnessed at the moment is a very deliberate effort to pull the Liberal Party further to the right.
“What began as a minority has, by a process of intimidation, persuaded people that the only way to stop the insurgency is to give in to it.
“I do not believe in that. I have never done that. I have never given in to bullies, but you can imagine the pressure it’s put people under.”
Mr Turnbull said he had sought advice from the Solicitor-General on the eligibility of Mr Dutton to sit in parliament and expected to receive that first thing tomorrow morning.
“(If a spill motion) is carried and there is a new leader of the Liberal Party, that person will have to obviously satisfy the Governor-General that they can command a majority on the floor of the House of Representatives,” he said.
“In the case of Mr Dutton, I think he’ll have to establish that he is eligible to sit in the Parliament.
“I don’t want to elaborate on this anymore than I need to, but this issue of eligibility is critically important. You can imagine the consequences of having a Prime Minister whose actions and decisions are questionable because of the issue of eligibility. Are they validly a minister at all?”
That eligibility centres on claims Mr Dutton may have breached the Constitution and been ineligible to sit because of his interests in two childcare centres his wife operates and the government subsidies they receive.
