A former senior Australian minister and Premier of New South Wales claims there is a chance Prime Minister Scott Morrison could be rolled as Liberal Party leader in the coming months.
Bob Carr, a retired Labor politician who served as Australian Foreign Affairs Minister from 2012 to 2013 and as NSW Premier between 1995 and 2005, on Sunday night sensationally accused current Defence Minister Peter Dutton of leaking damaging texts about Morrison.
Australia's Network Ten last week revealed text messages between a minister and former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian in which Morrison was called a "complete psycho". Berejiklian has said she has "no recollection" of such messages while the minister hasn't been named. Texts have also emerged of deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce calling Morrison a "liar".
Carr didn't share why he believed Dutton shared the texts, but made a gloomy prediction about Morrison's future.
"If PM Morrison has one more week in free fall the prospect of a leadership change pre-election is real. Party rules don’t count if most MPs think you will lead them to defeat."
Dutton on Monday morning denied Carr's claim, saying it was "baseless, untrue and should be deleted". Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also dismissed the claim, saying Carr was suffering from "relativity deprivation syndrome" and had been a "waste of space" as Foreign Affairs minister.
In response to Dutton's denial, Carr tweeted on Monday that the only way the minister could "win his case" would be for another minister to admit they were the source.
"If not you, Mr Dutton, which of your colleagues? Until then who has most to gain from undermining further a flailing PM?"
On Sunday, Morrison said he "could not care less" what "people send around in texts".
"Frankly, Australians are far more interested in their jobs and their lives than what people are sending in text messages to each other."
Australians will head to the ballot box this year. Morrison is yet to announce when the federal election will occur, but it must be before May 21, reports SBS News.
His premiership could soon be over, with polls showing a clear advantage to the Labor party in the two-party preferred vote. A late January poll by Newspoll and YouGov had Labor at 56 percent to the Liberal Nationals at 44 percent. The result for Labor there is five points higher than when former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was rolled as Liberal leader in August 2018.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese on Monday told Sunrise he had nothing to do with Carr dropping his allegation. He said the text messages were a "distraction" and called on whoever was responsible to come forward to squash speculation.
"The dysfunction, the dishonesty and the disunity means the government is parlaysed in taking the action that really does concern Australians."
Despite speculation from Carr that Morrison could be rolled as leader if he continues to find himself mired in scandal, the Prime Minister's Cabinet is still backing him - at least publicly.
Environment Minister Sussan Ley told Sky News on Sunday that Cabinet is the most united she has seen it, having served under three different Prime Ministers. Asked if there was any chance Morrison could be rolled, Ley said: "Not at all. Absolutely none".
But Chris Wallace, an Australian politics historian, wrote for Nikkei Asia on Monday that Morrison must be considering that either Dutton or Fydenberg could make a challenge for the leadership ahead of the election.
"[Morrison] will only be secure in the leadership once Parliament has been dissolved and an election date set. Should a challenge appear likely, Morrison could defer the budget and hold an election any Saturday from March onward."
Amid speculation of a challenge, Frydenberg last week said Morrison was the best person to leader the Liberals into the election.
The Australian Liberal Party does, however, have a reputation for backstabbing and behind the scenes plotting. Morrison came to power exactly as a consequence of that when Dutton agitated to remove Turnbull from the top job. Morrison was able to defeat Dutton in a vote after Turnbull stood aside.
After that spill, the Liberals changed party rules to require a two-thirds majority to call a vote.
