A THREAT by Malcolm Turnbull to walk away should the backbench defy him over climate change has further entrenched divisions within the Coalition and raised doubts about whether he will be leader beyond Christmas.
Fed up with a group of backbenchers publicly destabilising him over his plan to negotiate with the Government on its emissions trading scheme, Mr Turnbull used three separate interviews yesterday to stress he was not prepared to lead a party that did nothing and said nothing.
''Whether my leadership prevails or not on this issue, time will tell,'' he said.''I could not possibly lead a party that was on a do-nothing-on-climate-change platform.
''If the party room were to reject my recommendations to them, that would obviously be a leadership issue. That's perfectly plain - quite clear.''Gambling the leadership is extremely dangerous but Mr Turnbull said he was confident he would prevail.
''I will secure the party room's support,'' he said.Climate change has become the internal battleground over Mr Turnbull's leadership and both sides of the argument claim to be in the majority.
One Liberal who believes Mr Turnbull's leadership is now untenable because of the threat told the Herald the leader had put a noose around his neck and stood on a chair.
''All we have to do is kick it over,'' he said.An ardent Turnbull supporter said Mr Turnbull had started showing real leadership after realising elements of the party were mired in the past and could not be wooed.
The community was concerned about climate change and the party room rebels were sending the message the Liberal Party did not care.
Mr Turnbull concurred with a swipe at the National Party and rebel Liberals such as Cory Bernardi and Wilson Tuckey.''Anyone who thinks it is electorally wise to have a do-nothing-on-climate-change policy is not in tune with the mood of the nation or the globe.
''Liberals speculating that Mr Turnbull might be gone by Christmas reasoned that Tony Abbott, a conservative, was the only realistic replacement.The shadow cabinet on Wednesday backed Mr Turnbull's intention to try to amend Labor's emissions trading legislation when reintroduced in November.
If the legislation is blocked, Labor will have a trigger for an early double dissolution. Mr Turnbull argues Labor would win such an election and then pass its scheme unamended using a joint sitting of Parliament. Therefore the Coalition should try to seek a better deal for industry and agriculture.
The rebels are demanding he call Labor's bluff and do nothing until at least next year, after an international conference in Copenhagen, by which time other nations' intentions will be better known.Mr Turnbull stressed repeatedly yesterday that negotiating next month did not guarantee there would be a deal.The Coalition's final position would depend on which amendments the Government accepted. ''We may well vote against it,'' he said.Most Liberals are worried about what to do when this moment arrives as it is likely the party room will still be divided.
''For Malcolm, that's the big call,'' said one frontbencher.