The Three Stooges

Having watched the press conference by Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop and Ian Macfarlane last night, and listened to extracts of it again this morning, Turnbull’s actions in ignoring the will of the party room and agreeing to the ETS amendments proposed by Labor is one of the most extraordinary betrayals I have ever witnessed in politics.

Turnbull refused to comment on the numbers in the party room, but sources indicate that a majority of the party room spoke against accepting the amendments, with numbers approximately 41 – 33 against the government’s proposals.

But then Turnbull pulls a trick. The usual procedure is for the shadow cabinet to vote on the issue. This they did – in favour of accepting the amendments. The next step is for the issue then to be put to the party room – so according to this, it should have been rejected.

But what Turnbull did was add in the votes of the shadow cabinet to the party room result, thereby claiming that the “party room” was in favour, at the same time including Nationals front benchers in the shadow cabinet (who were actually against it), but excluding Nationals back benchers, who were also against it!

It was an astonishing display. Turnbull just kept repeating the phrase “I’m the leader and I’ve made the call”, so desperate is he to satisfy his own green tendencies against the will of the party room. All I can say is, I hope you won’t be leader for long.

To those in the Liberal party who voted against this climate madness, you cannot let this stand. You know what you need to do.

There is acres of coverage on this in the media as you would expect:

• Defiant Turnbull’s last stand
• How Malcolm Turnbull staged his own destruction
• Leader enters the dead zone
• Leader in name only
• “I’m the leader”: Turnbull defies dissidents
• Turnbull heads to brink

And for a bit of light relief, a Tale of Two Headlines, next to each other in this mornings reading list:

• PM vows no family will be worse off
• ETS will cost Australian families $1,100 a year

I know which one is nearer the truth…

WTF?

Well I’m not exactly sure if anybody knows what the hell happened tonight. Some reports are saying the party room backed the amendments, others say that a majority were against, some say Turnbull stormed out, others say there will be a leadership spill on Thursday. If anyone out there knows, please send an email or leave a comment, and enlighten me!

I’ve had enough for one day…

Andrew Bolt has some further information:

Backbenchers are furious at Turnbull for claiming in the press conference just finished that he had the support of a clear majority of members for agreeing to Rudd’s compromise bill.

“The reality is that he didn’t,” one told me. “He lied.”

It’s a mystery how Turnbull could claim support when some 41 of the 74 to speak at the meeting opposed a deal with Rudd. Those against included the respected Andrew Robb, who until his illness was the climate spokesman. It’s this opposition to an ETS that makes Joe Hockey, who supports it, an unlikely starter.

Turnbull is only a 50-50 chance to survive on Thursday, but his opponents are sure they’ll get him on a second challenge if they don’t blast him out at the first.

But does this sink Rudd’s bill? Depends how many Liberals cross the floor and vote for it, defying either Abbott or Andrews. But I wouldn’t be banking on it yet.

Read it here.

Sky News report that Turnbull pulled a sneaky trick by adding the shadow cabinet numbers to the party room ETS supporters, thereby securing the win (i.e. Adding the shadow cabinet to the 33 in favour to make it more than 41).

It’s ironic that Turnbull has resorted to fiddling the figures to push through the ETS, just like the warmists at CRU fiddled the temperatures to keep global warming alive.

Just listening to ABC Sydney 702 and there is talk of a leadership spill on the instigation of Wilson Tuckey… more to follow.

Apparently it was raised, but didn’t happen…

Andrew Robb’s change of position has sent shockwaves through the partyroom, however.

Still no news @ 7pm. Out of contact intermittently from now until 9.30.