Senior party figures have scotched
the notion of next Tuesday's meeting
of the parliamentary Liberal Party
descending into a leadership blood-
letting.
Expectations had been raised that
the gloves would come off in the
wake of public fights between four of
the most senior members of the
Opposition.
Leader Brendan Nelson and
shadow treasurer Malcolm Turnbull
continued yesterday to keep low
profiles after revelations that Mr
Turnbull strongly opposed Dr Nelson's
budget-reply promise to cut
petrol excise by 5c a litre.
Meanwhile, another Liberal split
opened when Senate leader Nick
Minchin was forced to back down
from comments about the expected
departure from Parliament of the
former foreign minister Alexander
Downer.
Adding to the confusion in Opposition
ranks were the forced denials
from Deputy Leader Julie Bishop
(WA) and shadow employment minister
Joe Hockey (NSW) that they
were considering moves to state
politics.
The ructions are detracting greatly
from the Labor Government's first
budget, widely seen as imminently
attackable for not being as tough as
flagged in the fight against the so-
called ''No1 public enemy'' of
inflation.
One senior Liberal figure said last
night he could see no momentum
building for Mr Turnbull to make any
immediate move for the leadership,
which he said would be premature.
The senior frontbencher pointed
out that a number of MPs and
senators had switched camps in
both directions since Dr Nelson
beat Mr Turnbull for the Liberal
leadership by three votes in the wake
of last year's election.
A contest now would be similarly
close ''and that doesn't resolve anything''.
''Whether they're in the
Brendan or the Malcolm camp, they
just want things to settle down for a
while,'' he said,
He added that he did not believe
either leadership contender had
been responsible for the leaking of
the fact that Mr Turnbull had sent Dr
Nelson an email criticising the fuel-
excise cut. ''It wasn't in either of their
interests.''
The email had assumed great
importance because people smelled
a leadership contest ''But, internally,
they're in no hurry for it irrespective
of where they stand.''
The Coalition has a vastly
reshaped front bench after the election
and ''everyone just wants to get
some experience under their belt''
and had no immediate taste for a
leadership spill.
The Liberals' tensions will focus
on Mr Turnbull today when he gives
his post-budget address to the
National Press Club, with Dr Nelson
pre-empting his shadow treasurer
yesterday. ''He'll be setting out a very
strong case as to why the budget of
the Rudd Government has failed
Australians, pulled the plug on pensioners,
and importantly that we are
the people who stand for lower
petrol prices, which will also mean,
of course, lower grocery prices,'' he
said.