Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Leadership spill: Tony Abbott beats Turnbull by one vote
Article from: The Courier-Mail

One Liberal lady rep. said Abbot's win was the greatest act of treachery in her many years in parliament. He is a staunch Catholic, considered once becoming a priest and has been considered one of the conservative hard men for many years. He was the guy who headed the dirty tricks effort to skewer Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. Why? Her One Nation party drew, rural mostly, conservative votes from John Howard's then conservative Liberal party. .. video and relateds inside

Emma Chalmers and Stefanie Balogh .. December 01, 2009

UPDATE: NEW Opposition leader Tony Abbott has promised to dump the emissions trading ``tax'' and revisit a more hardline workplace relations regime after winning the Liberal Party leadership by one vote.

In a shock victory that signals a shift to the right for the Liberals, the conservative Catholic from NSW takes control of a divided party after winning a leadership ballot against Malcolm Turnbull by a slim 42 votes to 41.

Joe Hockey, the third leadership contender and presumed frontrunner, lost in the first round of the ballot with 23 votes to Mr Turnbull's 26 and Mr Abbott's 35.

A divisive figure over the years, Mr Abbott promised to be a ``consultative and collegial leader''.

He acknowledged that after a tumultuous week in Liberal politics, ``wounds'' would need to be healed.

``I do feel humbled and daunted by what lies ahead but I also feel proud and exhilarated by the prospect of leading this party to the next election,'' he told reporters.

But the turmoil may not yet be over for the Liberals, with Mr Turnbull failing to rule out another tilt at the leadership.

Stunned moderates publicly supported the new leader as they walked dazed from the party room but behind the scenes they admitted to deep concern about how Mr Abbott would be viewed in the electorate.

In the immediate aftermath, a moderate Liberal said the party had just ``f....d ourselves over''.

As Mr Abbott entered a packed press conference, around a dozen Liberal colleagues sitting at the back of the room - mainly from the right of the party - burst into applause.

Under his leadership, the coalition will abandon its deal with Labor to pass its emissions trading scheme.

After winning the leadership, Mr Abbott held a secret ballot to gauge the mood on the ETS.

The partyroom voted 54 to 29 to try to refer the legislation to a committee and, if that was unsuccessful, to reject it in the Senate.

Mr Abbott denied he was a climate change sceptic.

``We will have a strong and effective climate change policy, it just won't be this ETS,'' he said.

``The job of the opposition is to be an alternative not an echo.''

He confirmed the coalition may also look again at its workplace policy.

``Now, I'm not going to pre-empt what our policy on this will be, but certainly I think it is very important that we keep a free and flexible economy,'' Mr Abbott said.

Mr Turnbull, who offered his support to Mr Abbott, will now retire to the backbench.

Mr Abbott lashed out at the Government's proposed ETS, saying it would be ``grossly irresponsible to wave it through the Parliament''.

``I am not frightened of an election on this issue,'' Mr Abbott said.

"This is going to be a tough fight but it will be a fight. You cannot win an election without a fight."

Mr Abbott said he could not promise victory to his colleagues, but he could promise a contest.

He said the secret ballot in the partyroom had agreed to refer the legislation to a committee and if that motion fails, to vote down the bill in the Senate this week.

If the legislation is voted down, the Rudd Government would have a trigger for an early double dissolution election.

Mr Abbott said he would best to heal the wounds of the Liberal party after a tumultuous week.

``It's been a big day for me, it's been a tough day for some of my colleagues,'' he said.

``I do feel humbled and daunted by what's ahead, but I also feel proud and exhilarated at the prospect of leading this great political party to the next election.

But he admitted there were wounds in the party that needed to be healed.

``I have said to my colleagues that I will do my best to be a consultative ... leader,'' he told reporters during his first press conference as leader.

``Political parties don't work when people just announce what they're doing and expect everyone else to follow.''

Both Mr Abbott and deputy leader Julie Bishop praised the outgoing leader as a good friend and thanked Mr Turnbull for his service as leader.

``I've known Malcolm for a long time,'' he said.

``We have sometime been sparing partners, but we have mostly been friends.''

His respect and admiration for Mr Turnbull had grown ``enormously'' during the past few months.

``Malcolm has shone in adversity.'

Mr Abbott confessed to being "overwhelmed" by his unexpected elevation to the position of federal Opposition Leader.

“I'm a bit overwhelmed,” Mr Abbott told reporters as left the partyroom.

Mr Hockey has told journalists he supported Mr Turnbull in the spill motion and supports the new leader.

He said he wants to speak to Mr Abbott before deciding whether to accept the shadow treasury portfolio.

Earlier, Opposition Whip Alex Somlyay confirmed Mr Abbott won the three-way ballot against Joe Hockey and ousted leader Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Hockey was eliminated in the first round of the vote. Mr Abbott had 35 votes in the first round of voting to Mr Turnbull's 26 and Mr Hockey's 23.

Mr Abbott won by one vote, 42-41.

Mr Turnbull says he will go tot he backbench but will not commit to standing at the next election.

He says Mr Abbott faces a "big challenge".

Julie Bishop remains deputy leader. She said she was delighted Mr Abbott had been elected leader. "We have a great challenge ahead of us," she said.

Abbott supporter Sophie Mirabella says the party will be united ``absolutely'' behind the new leader.

``We're moving forward, united,'' she told reporters. ``There's great goodwill.''

But a moderate source said the party had just ``f....d ourselves over''.

At the end of the leadership contest, the partyroom agreed to vote against the government's emissions trading scheme which has deeply divided the Liberals.

The only Liberal MP not present for the vote was Fran Bailey.

A spokesman for the Victorian backbencher said she tried to obtain a proxy vote, but party rules prevented that.

``Under medical advice she was prevented from any travel to Canberra,'' he told AAP.

``She did attempt to gain a proxy vote but party rules do not in fact allow for that.'

Mr Abbott and Mr Turnbull are expected to give press conferences soon.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,1,26424590-952,00.html