Turnbull survives as Liberal leader

Liberal MPs have voted to support Malcolm Turnbull as leader of the party and the coalition, in a secret ballot, by 48 votes to 35, ruling out a potential challenge to his position. A special meeting of the party room was held on Wednesday afternoon, at which MPs opted not to move a spill motion against Mr Turnbull.

"The motion put forward to the chair that the position be declared vacant and that motion was lost," said party spokesman Alex Somylay, adding that Wilson Tuckey had moved the motion.

"Malcolm Turnbull leads the Liberal party with a very strong vote of confidence," he said.

Mr Turnbull reportedly thanked his supporters and called for unity in the wake of the vote, with Joe Hockey insisting the leader had been "humbled" by the challenge.

"Malcolm was very humbled at the end of it, but what it does demonstrate is that Malcolm is acting in the party's interest and in the nation's interest.

'Damage has been done' to party

"We do not have an emperor who imposes his view without contradiction, without question," he said, adding the party had always had a diversity of views.

Kevin Andrews, who had said he would run for the leadership if the party room came out against Mr Turnbull, did not challenge him.

Mr Andrews refused to say whether there would be another challenge in future, but said the vote showed that 35 members of the party would support him as leader.

"This sends a very clear message that the Liberal Party is deeply concerned about the way things have occurred," he said.

Mr Hockey - seen as a future leader of the party - said "damage has been done", but insisted that the vote was a "good result" for Mr Turnbull.

ETS 'deeply divisive' issue

He insisted Mr Turnbull had the "overwhelming" support of the party.

"The Liberal Party is going forward as a party and is going to be constructive in this parliament," he told reporters after the meeting.

"It's going to do the right thing on behalf of the Australian people."

The 48-35 result was "almost identical" to the ETS vote of Tuesday's joint coalition parties meeting.

Mr Hockey said the emissions trading issue had been an "incredibly difficult" issue for the coalition. "There are very strong views on both sides of the argument," he said.

The leadership debate followed Tuesday's marathon - and deeply divisive - meeting to decide whether the coalition should support Labor's emissions trading scheme.

'Maverick' Tuckey criticised

Mr Turnbull angered members of the party last night by declaring that they supported a deal with the government on an emissions trading scheme.

Many Liberals insist Mr Turnbull did not have the numbers to claim victory in the debate, with many defiantly voicing their opposition to the deal.

On Tuesday night, firebrand MP Wilson Tuckey, who moved the motion calling for a challenge to Mr Turnbull's leadership, had insisted he "would not last the night".

top