Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has conceded making mistakes after surviving an attempt to dump him and receiving the resignation of three parliamentary secretaries.
It is understood Mr Turnbull was still considering last night whether to accept the trio's resignations, which would trigger a more immediate ministerial reshuffle.
In another tumultuous day for the Liberals, Mr Turnbull staved off a leadership spill, apologised and appealed for unity during a special party meeting yesterday.
Liberal sources differed in their views on the embattled leader's future, with some members predicting Mr Turnbull's leadership was still under threat.
''It's hard to see it going on indefinitely if you've basically got the party split up the guts and you can try and be charming for a while but I think the old patterns of behaviour will come back,'' a senior Liberal told The Canberra Times.
A second took the opposite stance, predicting Mr Turnbull would lead the party to the next federal election after conceding yesterday that he made mistakes in his handling of the emissions trading scheme issue.
It came after a heated and lengthy internal debate on Tuesday about whether to accept or reject the Government's $7 billion deal in exchange for the Opposition supporting Bills to establish an emissions trading scheme.
Mr Turnbull declared a majority of members would accept the Government's offer, which included more assistance for the coal sector, power generators and heavy-polluting exporters.
A series of backbenchers disputed Mr Turnbull's conclusion, prompting Liberals Wilson Tuckey and Dr Dennis Jensen to push for a leadership spill.
A night's sleep failed to ease the anger among those Opposition members opposed to passing the Bills. Liberal Peter Slipper believed the result declared by Mr Turnbull was ''about as dodgy as a Zimbabwean election organised by Robert Mugabe''.
Mr Turnbull had refused to call another special meeting to discuss a leadership spill.
He said, ''All we have is a letter signed by two backbenchers and no indication that there is any candidate or any credible level of support''.
Frontbenchers Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott ruled out challenging but Liberal backbencher and former minister Kevin Andrews announced he would stand if there was a leadership ballot.
Mr Turnbull convened a special meeting at 1pm and Liberals voted 48-35 in a secret ballot against calling a leadership spill.
Mr Hockey said the result displayed the overwhelming support for Mr Turnbull who was not an ''emperor that imposed his view''.
''Clearly this issue has done us incredible damage and I hope the Australian people forgive us for having this very public display. But I say to the Australian people, we are a progressive party. We are an honest party. We're made up of honest people who are not afraid to express a view,'' Mr Hockey said.
Mr Andrews said members had sent a message.
''A significant number of people were prepared to say that we would like to have a spill motion and I think that should be a clear message that things have to be done differently in the future,'' Mr Andrews said.
Mr Turnbull recognised the party had been through a ''very, very tough process'' in the past few weeks.
''We have all got to work on our interpersonal skills,'' Mr Turnbull said.
''But the reality is we have had a wide range of views and I respect all of the views of my colleagues that have been raised and some of them diametrically different from mine.
''But as a political party we have got to come to a decision. We have got to move forward.''
As senators continued to debate the Bills last night, Mr Turnbull was reportedly still considering whether to accept the resignations of three parliamentary secretaries; Senator Mathias Cormann, Senator Mitch Fifield and Senator Brett Mason.
''Our decision is made with regret but also in clear conscience,'' according to the senators who would oppose the emissions trading Bills if the vote was held this year.
If Mr Turnbull accepted the resignations, he could bring forward plans for a ministerial reshuffle already on the cards after frontbenchers Margaret May and Chris Pearce announced plans to retire at the next election.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter