SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was fighting for his job Wednesday after backbenchers publicly called for a Liberal Party vote on his leadership following months of tensions stoked by fading poll numbers and policy backflips.
A handful of MPs late Tuesday openly revolted against the conservative leader after Abbott's recent controversial decision to make Britain's Prince Philip a knight helped bring simmering tensions to the surface.
West Australian MP Dennis Jensen was the first to say Abbott should go.
"I don't think the leader and his office are listening and communicating effectively," Jensen told ABC television.
"I believe that it is necessary that this is brought to a head and lanced."
Queensland MP Warren Entsch reportedly said "something has got to come to a head" and that he would seek a resolution when the Liberal Party meets on Tuesday, February 10.
Former minister Mal Brough, another Queensland MP, also broke ranks, telling Sky News: "I don't have unequivocal support for the prime minister today."
He added: "The matter needs to be resolved and if Tuesday is the appropriate time for people to talk about it ... then it's for them to say so."
He ruled out challenging Abbott.
The prime minister tried Wednesday to brush off the revolt as a sign of a "robust" Liberal Party.
"We've always had a robust party room, and I hope that will always continue," Abbott told Macquarie Radio.
"What I think everyone in the party room understands is that the last thing we should do is go anywhere near reproducing the rabble of the Labor years," he said, referring to the ousting of prime ministers under the previous government.
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