At 9:10am Malcolm Turnbull declared the position of Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party vacant.
Malcolm Turnbull has declared the leadership position vacant and around ten minutes later the deputy leadership was also declared vacant. However, only Julie Bishop has restood.
Both Malcolm Turnbull and Peter Dutton have declared their they will stand. It is believed that Mathias Cormann has thrown his support behind Peter Dutton who was believed to have had at least 40 of the 43 votes to become the leader.
The election was called and in the end Turnbull received 48 votes to Peter Dutton’s 35 votes.
Information suggests that ten of Peter Dutton’s 35 votes came from Queensland.Insiders believe that Malcolm Turnbull’s position has been weakened and the matter is not over with Dutton, Cormann and Abbott expected to keep pushing for a change.
Canberra insiders expect a further challenge will be forthcoming and that this was a tactical push to test the waters.
Turnbull caught the Dutton camp by surprise in calling the spill this morning, however, it is believed that had he not Peter Dutton might have garnered further support.
Peter Dutton has resigned from Cabinet and returned to the backbench which will cause a reshuffle!
History has shown that when similar spills have gone the way of the incumbent, a further spill later results in a change of leadership and many believe it is only a matter of what might be, a short time, before a second attempt – the real strike, is made.
