The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, is in danger of losing the top job after two years in office after a former Liberal party leader, Malcolm Turnbull, declared on Monday that he would challenge for the position.
The challenge caps a tumultuous time in Australian politics, where members of a political party can attempt to ambush a leader with a sudden request to “spill” – or declare vacant – the leadership. Turnbull, an urbane former investment banker and lawyer who defended Peter Wright in the Spycatcher case, would become the fifth Australian prime minister in five years if a majority of Liberal parliamentarians supported his bid.
Abbott, whose standing in opinion polls has been damaged by a series of unpopular budget cuts, policy U-turns and gaffes, said he would fight the leadership challenge because Australia needed “strong and stable government” and the prime ministership was “not a prize or a plaything to be demanded”.
The Liberal party, which is the dominant force in a governing coalition with the rural-focused Nationals, was due to make a decision at a meeting in Canberra on Monday evening.
“I will be a candidate and I expect to win,” Abbott told reporters at Parliament House.
“I firmly believe that our party is better than this, that our government is better than this and, by God, that our country is so much better than this.”
Abbott survived a party confidence motion seven months ago when he pleaded with his colleagues for more time to turn around the government’s fortunes.
But the threat to Abbott’s leadership is more serious now than it was in February because this time Turnbull has openly announced his candidacy and the deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, has also approached Abbott to raise concerns about the government’s performance. Turnbull quit as communications minister on Monday to pursue the challenge.
Abbott, a conservative who firmly opposes same-sex marriage and the use of emissions trading schemes to tackle climate change, rose to power in part because he capitalised on the leadership upheaval in the opposing Labor party.
Julia Gillard successfully challenged Kevin Rudd for the Labor leadership and prime ministership in June 2010, only to be ousted by Rudd in June 2013 ahead of the September 2013 election when the Liberal-National Coalition won office.
Turnbull, a moderate member of the government who supports same-sex marriage and strong action on global warming, was himself a former leader of the Liberal party in opposition, but was ousted by Abbott in 2009 amid party divisions over climate policy.
It is understood Turnbull has told colleagues he would retain the current climate policy and has said he would continue with a plan for a public vote on same sex marriage, although he has indicated he would like to hold it sooner rather than later.
Turnbull said he had met with the prime minister to advise him of the challenge and to request a party meeting to enable a leadership ballot.
“Now this is not a decision that anyone could take lightly,” he said.
“I have consulted with many, many colleagues, many Australians, many of our supporters in every walk of life. This course of action has been urged on me by many people over a long period of time.”
Turnbull said the prime minister had “not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs”. In a swipe at Abbott’s tendency to repeat slogans, Turnbull said Australia needed a different style of leadership “that respects the people’s intelligence” and was based on “traditional cabinet government”.
And he warned his colleagues that the Labor party would win the next election, due in 2016, if Abbott remained in the job.
The timing of the challenge is unusual because of its potential to distract from a crucial byelection in Western Australia in less than a week. Turnbull defended the timing, saying there were “few occasions that are entirely ideal for tough calls and tough decisions like this”.
But the former Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett accused Turnbull of being “a very selfish ego-driven individual” and said people who were spooked by opinion polls should never have entered politics.
The treasurer, Joe Hockey, said Turnbull’s claims about economic leadership were “completely unfounded” and he had never raised them in the cabinet.
Hockey, in a statement of ambition rather than a description of the Australian political system, said: “The position of prime minister is a gift of you, the Australian people. You have the right to hire and only you have the right to fire. We cannot, we must not, become a carbon copy of the Labor party.”
Abbott’s strongest supporters sought to build momentum in the five hours between Turnbull’s declaration and the vote, insisting that party members were calling electorate officers to urge against a leadership change.
The Coalition has been lagging behind Labor in opinion polls since last year, when the government announced in its first budget that it would make unpopular cuts to health and education funding, the deregulation of university fees and the introduction of a new charge for visiting the doctor.
Abbott survived a motion for the leadership positions to be declared open in February 2015, shortly after he attracted widespread ridicule for his decision to bestow a knighthood on Prince Philip. That spill motion was initiated by two West Australian backbench MPs rather than by a minister. Despite the lack of a declared challenger at the time, 39 Liberals voted to declare open the leadership, while 61 backed Abbott.