Deputy National party leader Bridget McKenzie has called on coalition MPs to stop undermining Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's leadership, warning they were helping Bill Shorten towards victory at the next election.
A handful of coalition MPs have publicly reserved their right to cross the floor and vote against the government’s National Energy Guarantee, including former prime minister Tony Abbott.
Around a dozen have raised concerns, with some including former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce demanding changes to the energy plan.
The Daily Telegraph ran quotes from unnamed coalition MPs on Friday suggesting a “torn” Peter Dutton, the minister for Home Affairs, was being urged to challenge for the leadership from Mr Turnbull.
"There are only two good outcomes here -- either the energy policy is dead and we can go to the election fighting Labor on it, or Malcolm goes," the News Corp publication cited an unnamed MP as saying.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House Source: AAP
The newspaper also has an opinion piece from former Mr Abbott, who laid out his vision for cutting power prices, including dumping the Paris climate targets to which he signed up.
"If the prime minister had paid as much attention to his backbench as he does to the Senate crossbench, the government would not be in this current fix," he wrote on Friday.
Senator McKenzie poured cold water on suggestions of a leadership challenge, saying the quotes came from a “couple of outliers” within the government.
“We know their names and we are not surprised,” she told reporters at Parliament House on Friday morning.
“Pull your head in, honestly. The worst thing for our nation will be a government run by Bill Shorten with [shadow energy minister] Mark Butler, whose entire energy policy is based on Greenpeace modelling.”
Senator McKenzie drew attention to Mr Dutton’s Thursday interview with Sydney radio station 2GB, in which he said he believed the National Energy Guarantee was “the best policy available to us”.
“I work as a team player. I'm not going to be a part of the Cabinet and then bag the prime minister out,” Mr Dutton said.
“You can have a gentle conservation, you can have a raised-voice conversation. I express my view and I am most effective as a member of the cabinet when I can do that, but I'm not bagging my colleagues or my Prime Minister publicly.”
Government frontbencher Christopher Pyne dismissed the speculation as hyperventilating colleagues "trying to put the band back together" - a reference to Mr Abbott and his supporters.
"The cabinet is 100 per cent united behind Malcolm Turnbull and in the party room on Tuesday only four people said that they reserved their right not to vote for the NEG," Mr Pyne told the Nine Network on Friday.
At least two coalition MPs have promised to vote against the guarantee but other sceptics say they can be convinced if there is movement on price.
Labor is also looking at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's recommendation for a default retail price offer.
The guarantee forces emissions to be cut by the Paris-mandated 26 per cent but backbencher George Christensen will only vote for a 17 per cent target, while Labor wants 45 per cent.
WA Liberal MP Andrew Hastie is also among those reserving their right to cross the floor.
Others publicly raising concerns include Eric Abetz, Craig Kelly, Tony Pasin, Barry O'Sullivan, Kevin Andrews and Andrew Gee, while Barnaby Joyce wants to see specific amendments.
-With AAP
