CANBERRA, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The leadership of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is under threat from the conservative wing of his party.
Peter Dutton, Australia's minister for home affairs and the most senior conservative member of the governing Liberal National Party (LNP), was reportedly preparing to mount a leadership challenge against Turnbull on Monday in response to the prime minister's controversial energy policy.
Dutton and fellow conservatives among the center-right LNP have raised concerns over Turnbull's National Energy Guarantee (NEG) and the 26 percent emissions reduction target embedded in the policy.
A Fairfax-Ipsos poll published on Sunday night revealed that the LNP trailed the Australian Labor Party (ALP) 45-55 on a two-party preferred basis, down from 49-51 earlier in August.
The government's primary vote fell from 39 percent to 33 percent while Turnbull's popularity among the voters took a significant hit.
In a bid to appease Dutton and his supporters, Turnbull on Monday morning announced that he had abandoned his plan to legislate an emissions reduction target under the NEG.
"It is clear that in the absence of bipartisan support, the legislation to move forward with the emissions component of the National Energy Guarantee will not be able to pass the House of Representatives," Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
"Now, in politics you have to focus on what you can deliver and that's what we've done and we'll continue to do."
However, the move is unlikely to save the prime minister from facing a leadership challenge with one minister telling News Corp Australia that "it is now almost inevitable, the question is timing."
Addressing leadership speculation, Turnbull said that Dutton had offered his full support.
"Peter Dutton was at our leadership group meeting this morning and he was at the Cabinet last night," he said.
"He's a member of our team. He's given me his absolute support."
Even with the support of the LNP, the NEG would be unlikely to pass through parliament after the ALP vowed to oppose any bill that set an emissions reduction target lower than 45 percent.
Tony Abbott, the former prime minister who was defeated in a leadership ballot by Turnbull in 2015, has been a strong opponent of the NEG and supporter of Dutton and on Monday said that the leadership was "not about personalities, it is about policy."
