Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott yesterday vowed to change after surviving a confidence vote on his leadership, while urging an end to the disunity that has seen the government’s popularity plummet.
Abbott has been fighting for his job after poor poll ratings and a series of policy backflips spurred some members of parliament from his conservative Liberal Party openly to attack him, calling last week for a leadership “spill.”
The motion aimed to declare vacant the positions of party leader and deputy leader, occupied by Abbott and Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop.
If it had succeeded, the party room — Liberal Party members of both houses of parliament — could have voted for new candidates.
However, the 101 Liberal parliamentarians — one was absent — rejected the proposal by 61 to 39 in a secret ballot. One vote was discarded for either being incorrectly completed or not filled in at all.
In a televised statement, Abbott called for the party to end “disunity and uncertainty” and move forward.
“The Liberal Party has dealt with the spill motion and now this matter is behind us,” he said. “We are absolutely determined to work for you, the people who elected us. We want to end the disunity and the uncertainty which destroyed two Labor governments and give you the good government that you deserve.”
Labor switched leaders twice during its time in power from 2007 to 2013, with Abbott highly critical at the time.
University of Western Sydney political historian David Burchell said the recurring instability could be partly blamed on the diminishing ability of politicians to properly explain tough decisions to the public.
“I don’t believe either this government or the opposition have any idea how to speak in those terms,” he said. “They have become paralyzed by the fear of fickle electorates, and trapped in a cycle of endless political crisis management.”
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