2018 Liberal Party of Australia leadership spills

Turnbull refused to call the spill without first receiving a list of signatures representing the majority of his Party room, and referred Dutton to the Attorney General's office to test his eligibility to sit in Parliament.

[6] A ballot for the deputy leadership of the party also occurred and was won by Josh Frydenberg, who was subsequently appointed Treasurer in the Morrison government.

After extended poor Newspoll results against the Rudd government, he lost the leadership in the wake of the Utegate affair and a Party dispute over climate policy.

[17] In April 2018, Dutton outlined his desire to lead the Liberal party in the future,[18] and Morrison also revealed prime ministerial ambitions.

[20] Dutton had also been seen as a leading figure among the conservative wing of the Liberal Party, which had clashed with Turnbull and his more moderate supporters over the National Energy Guarantee (NEG), particularly with targets to reduce carbon emissions in compliance with the Paris Agreement, among other issues in mid-2018.

[21] Conservative supporters of Dutton included Tony Abbott, who was ousted by Turnbull as party leader and prime minister in September 2015.

[30] The day before this, The Daily Telegraph had published an exclusive story stating that Dutton would challenge for the prime minister-ship.

on the Monday prior to the spill found that nearly half the Australian electorate would be less likely to vote for the Coalition if Dutton became prime minister.

[34] In the hours leading up to the spill itself, newspapers reported speculation that Greg Hunt might challenge Julie Bishop for the Deputy Leadership of the Liberal Party in the event that Dutton won the vote.

Despite initial conflicting reports over whether he would retain a cabinet position, Dutton resigned from his role as Minister for Home Affairs and became a backbencher.

[44] On 22 August, Dutton spent several interviews discussing his policies if he were to be elected leader of the Coalition, including scrapping the GST on electricity, which Scott Morrison described as "an absolute budget blower".

The family trust of which Dutton is a beneficiary-operated child care centre that received over $5.6 million in funding from the Commonwealth Government.

A similar scenario with a Commonwealth-funded building company saw Senator Bob Day effectively disqualified by the High Court in 2017.

Although Dutton had received legal advice stating that he was not in breach of the constitution, Attorney-General Christian Porter referred the matter to the Solicitor-General of Australia.

[57] Labor attempted to move a motion to refer Peter Dutton's eligibility as an MP to the High Court, in a similar manner to referrals made during the recent parliamentary citizenship crisis in which several members of parliament resigned after discovering their dual citizenship status, violating section 44 of the Constitution of Australia.

[59] With up to 13 Ministers having resigned amidst the crisis, the government moved to adjourn the lower house of Parliament on 23 August, shortly before Question Time was scheduled to begin.

The adjournment motion was controversial and vigorously opposed by Labor, whose leader Bill Shorten labelled it "the ultimate admission of surrender of a bankrupt government.

[61] Also on 23 August, the Senate voted to investigate Peter Dutton's handling of two visa decisions relating to au pairs.

Turnbull suggested that the party room meeting could be called for 12 noon the next day, on 24 August, once he had seen both the petition and an advice from the Solicitor-General on Dutton's eligibility.

[63] He said that in the event of a second spill, he would resign rather than take part in any ensuing leadership ballot, as he would consider such the petition to be a sign that he no longer had the support of the party room.

[64] In relation to the request for a petition, Eric Abetz, a Dutton supporter, claimed that in the past a party room meeting could be called with only two signatures.

[34] Morrison was widely seen as a compromise candidate, who was agreeable to both the moderate supporters of Turnbull and Bishop and conservatives concerned about Dutton's electability.

[71] The initial motion to declare the leadership positions vacant, held at approximately 12:20 pm Canberra time, was successfully passed 45 votes to 40.

[75] As the leader of the Liberal Party and subsequently of the Coalition, Scott Morrison was invited to form a government and was sworn in as the 30th Prime Minister of Australia, a few hours after the leadership spill.

[76] On the day that the vote was announced, National MP Kevin Hogan made good on his earlier promise and moved to the crossbench.

[77] Turnbull notified after his ouster as Liberal leader that he intended to resign from parliament, forcing a by-election to replace him in his Sydney seat of Wentworth.

[81] Lucy Gichuhi threatened to name MPs who bullied during the spill, furthermore stating that she was asked during her preselection in June 2018 if she thought Turnbull was the right person to lead the Liberal party.

Morrison said the changes, which were drafted with feedback from former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott, would only apply to leaders who lead the party to victory at a federal election.