Senior Libs urge support for Turnbull

Senior Liberals have called on federal colleagues to get behind leader Malcolm
Turnbull in the wake of a new poll that shows disunity is damaging the coalition.
Bickering over support for an amended Labor government emissions trading scheme
(ETS) and the failure of senior Liberal frontbencher Peter Dutton to win endorsement
for a seat in Queensland have added to Mr Turnbull's woes.
The latest Newspoll conducted over the weekend and published on Tuesday shows Labor
increasing its lead over the coalition in the two-party preferred vote by three
points - to 58 per cent to the coalition's 42 per cent.
The Coalition's primary vote fell three per cent, from 38 to 35 per cent.
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey called on his colleagues to stop their infighting and
work to improve their performance in opposition.
"You've got to work damn hard, and you've got to have good policies that focus on
the best interests of the Australian people and get away from giving running
commentary on your own side," Mr Hockey told Sky News on Tuesday.
Reflecting the growing frustration among Liberals, NSW Opposition Leader Barry
O'Farrell told reporters he was worried the disunity could affect his party's
chances at the next state poll, due in 2011.
In reaction to the Newspoll, Mr O'Farrell said the federal Liberals were a shambles
and the public had treated them accordingly.
"It appears as though there are a small number of people in Malcolm Turnbull's party
room who have to learn the lessons of history and disunity the hard way, by a second
election defeat," Mr O'Farrell told reporters.
"That's not what I want, that's not what Malcolm Turnbull wants, it's not what
Liberal supporters want. But it's going to be the effect of the continual
white-anting that's going on in the federal party room."
In another effort to reassert his authority, Mr Turnbull has called coalition MPs
back to Canberra early for a party room meeting on Sunday, October 20, before
parliament resumes.
The meeting, which would normally have been held on the Tuesday of the sitting week,
will consider Mr Turnbull's proposed amendments to the ETS bills before they come
before parliament again in November.
Last week, Mr Turnbull put his leadership on the line over his wish to negotiate
amendments to the government's ETS bills to allow their passage in November.
The coalition shadow ministry meets in Melbourne on Wednesday, with the "framework"
of the proposed amendments topping its agenda.
However, West Australian Liberal senator Mathias Cormann has joined a string of
backbench colleagues expressing concern about the need to have the ETS bills passed
before a United Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen in December.
"We should not be negotiating amendments with a view of finalising the legislation
before Copenhagen," Senator Cormann told ABC radio on Tuesday.
While the Nationals are totally opposed to the government's ETS, many Liberals want
consideration of the legislation postponed until after Copenhagen.
Mr Turnbull has now been given another headache, with his health spokesman Mr Dutton
saying it was up to Queensland's Liberal National Party (LNP) to find him a seat
after he failed to win a preselection ballot for Gold Coast-based McPherson on the
weekend.
On Tuesday, Mr Dutton ruled out running for his old Brisbane-based seat of Dickson
or the new Queensland seat of Wright, or even seeking a spot in the Senate.
"Now the LNP in Queensland has some thinking to do," he told reporters.