If Foreign Minister Julie Bishop thought she could escape Liberal leadership speculation while in New Zealand, she was soon put right.
From the first question, the matter of who leads the Liberals - and Australia - dominated a joint press conference Ms Bishop held with New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully in Auckland on Friday.
Kiwi reporters were just as interested in the spills, rumours and possibility of prime minister Julie Bishop as those who had travelled from the Canberra press gallery.
"Minister Bishop, would you like to be the next prime minister of Australia?" one asked bluntly.
"The role of prime minister of Australia is occupied by Prime Minister Abbott," Ms Bishop replied, looking for the next topic.
But the questions stuck on the theme.
Would she run against Malcolm Turnbull in the event of a successful spill? Should Tony Abbott be given more time? Would she ask him to resign?
"These are hypothetical questions and this is all based on speculation and rumour," the characteristically feisty Ms Bishop said.
"I don't intend to add to it."
PM 'getting on with government'
As the prime minister arrived in Auckland for talks with his New Zealand counterpart John Key, speculation about a second leadership spill is rife.
More Liberal MPs are understood to have joined the 39 out of 102 who supported a spill motion on February 9, but it is unclear whether it is now a party-room majority.
Before he left, Mr Abbott told reporters he was "getting on with government" despite a Fairfax report claiming Malcolm Turnbull would win a ballot if a leadership vote went ahead at the next party-room meeting on Tuesday.
Mr Turnbull told reporters outside his Sydney home on Friday he would not "fuel this continued speculation".
Asked if the prime minister's position was untenable and he should resign, he said: "Of course not."
Mr Turnbull was also asked if he was calling his colleagues for support.
"I talk to my colleagues all the time and I have not been speaking to people overnight."
Mr Abbott said he would not be distracted from the job and nor would his ministers.
"Other people can obsess about this kind of insider gossip, but I'm certainly not going to," he said.
Listen: Canberra correspondent Amanda Cavill speaks with Greg Dyett.
The prime minister and Mr Key will discuss a joint operation to train Iraqi troops at the Taji base north of Baghdad, as well as
trade and investment issues.
One MP told AAP on Friday they had heard an alternative budget was being drafted should Mr Abbott and Treasurer Joe Hockey be dumped.
Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said some MPs remained aggrieved and were continuing to make their views known.
"There is a number of my colleagues who would like to see a leadership change, but that doesn't mean there's a majority," he told ABC radio on Friday.
"We are just not talking about, in my view, changing the leader from Tony Abbott to Malcolm Turnbull next Tuesday - it shouldn't be on and I don't think it will be on."
'Political bed-wetting'
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison, who is considered a potential treasurer or alternative leader to Mr Turnbull, said it was speculation.
"I think what we might be seeing here is a bit of political bed-wetting by some and I think frankly we've got to get past that," he said.
Talk about him as a potential future leader was "flattering and nice".
"Anyone who goes into parliament who says they don't aspire to do as much as they can in politics is lying to you," Mr Morrison said.
"I would hope to do as much as I possibly can in politics because I want to serve my country."
Mr Hockey brushed off questions about his and Mr Abbott's political futures, saying he would remain treasurer for "as long as the Australian people believe I should be in the job".
"It's the Australian people who have the right to remove the prime minister, not anyone else," he told Fairfax radio.
Liberal MPs should "put the national interest ahead of self-interest", he said.
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett, who spoke in favour of the spill motion in February, said if the rumours were true, it was "sheer stupidity".
"I say to those in the Liberal Party in Canberra ... get your act together."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who is already in NZ ahead of the PM's first visit, said she had not heard any rumours or discussed it with any colleagues.
Share
