Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull fights for survival after leadership challenge

Peter Dutton said he told Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull that he no longer had the support of a majority of lawmakers in the ruling conservative Liberal Party.

Mr Dutton’s push for another challenge lost some steam amid questions about his parliamentary eligibilitydue to public funding of childcare centres held under a family trust.

The prime minister did not initially accept Senator Seselja’s offer, but with Mr Dutton planning a second strike against Mr Turnbull, Senator Seselja formally resigned on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday the government sought its own advice from the solicitor general after Malcolm Turnbull revealed it had not yet sought an opinion from the chief legal adviser, which prompted Tony Abbott to accuse Turnbull of failing to defend Dutton.

Complicating matters were reports that at least three National MPs – who are in a governing coalition with the Liberals – would no longer guarantee to vote with the government if Dutton seizes power.

“I’ve not seen a petition, there’s no partyroom”. “I’m always opposed to changing leaders, ” he said.

The former police officer, who admits he rarely smiles, made no secret of still wanting to run the country. I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’m trying furiously to deal in fact tonight.

“I can’t ignore reality”, he said. It could be anyone, or it could be quite normal.

Mr Dutton, who until this week was home affairs minister, had on Tuesday unsuccessfully challenged Mr Turnbull in a Liberal party vote – losing by a slim 13-vote margin. The plan would have cut taxes on certain large businesses from 30 to 25 percent, but it was reportedly unpopular with voters. “But whether it happens tomorrow morning is key”.

But many are saying he does not have the required 43 signatures to get Turnbull to call the meeting, with Sky News reporting the figure last sat at 25.

“While chaos reigns, the country is not governed”, deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said.

“I haven’t heard anything about this”, she said. Some of them are won by one vote.

Progressive supporters have also been disappointed as they watched government policies shift to the right as Mr Turnbull tried to appease a powerful right-leaning backbench.

Considering the absolute circus that has been Australian politics over the past 48 hours, people are now throwing their support behind their new favourite Peter Dutton.

Parliament was due to end its current sitting today, before breaking for three weeks.The adjournment allows the Liberal party time to settle its leadership crisis without risking publicly damaging government divisions in parliament.

Mr Dutton also used FM radio to outline his favoured policy positions, which were rubbished by the PM.

The moves came as Mr Dutton faced growing questions over his eligibility to sit in Parliament because of his pecuniary interest in childcare centres that receive money from the Commonwealth.

Another argued that few on the Prime Minister’s side had seen the petition and nobody should assume a meeting would be held on Thursday based on frenzied reporting in the media about the document’s existence.