CANBERRA, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Peter Dutton has confirmed he is preparing to challenge Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's leadership for a second time.
Dutton, the most senior conservative member of the government, resigned as minister for home affairs on Tuesday after losing a ballot on the leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia to Turnbull 48-35.
Despite the narrow defeat, Dutton on Wednesday confirmed he had been calling his Liberal Party colleagues to make his pitch to replace Turnbull as prime minister.
"I'm speaking to colleagues, I'm not going to beat around the bush with that, mate," he told Macquarie Media radio on Wednesday.
There were reports that a second challenge could come as early as Thursday, the last parliamentary sitting day until mid-September, or even Wednesday afternoon if Dutton secured the 43 votes required to first call a party room meeting then win a leadership ballot.
Turnbull's tenure as prime minister was in crisis on Wednesday morning after nine ministers offered their resignation to him on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in a show of support for Dutton.
Health Minister Greg Hunt, Citizenship Minister Alan Tudge, Human Services Minister Michael Keenan and Trade Minister Steve Ciobo were the most prominent members of Cabinet to offer their resignation but only two out of the 10 offers including Dutton's have been accepted.
Instead, Turnbull has reportedly asked those ministers who offered their resignation to promise that they would not run or vote against him in any future challenges.
The admission that Dutton was preparing for a second challenge came in a series of radio interviews he gave on Wednesday morning, in which he laid out his policy platforms.
Notably he promised to remove the General Sales Tax (GST) of 10 percent on electricity and establish a royal commission on fuel and energy companies.
"I just think Australian consumers for way too long have been paying way too much for fuel and electricity," he told Melbourne radio station Triple M.
He also pledged to cut Australia's immigration intake even further than the cut he oversaw as home affairs minister.
Julie Bishop, Australia's deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister, dismissed claims that she was set to run for the leadership as a moderate third candidate in the event of another challenge.
She accused Dutton of positioning himself as the next leader of the party since April.
"Peter Dutton made it clear in April that he wanted to be prime minister. I think that was a signal to colleagues that he wants the job," she told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday night.
In a letter to the prime minister, leader of the Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) Bill Shorten asked Turnbull to "cease taking any actions that may bind decisions of an incoming government" considering the "ongoing uncertainty around the leadership."
"Out of respect for the Australian people, such a pause should continue until leadership of the Coalition Government is satisfactorily resolved or General Election is called," Shorten wrote on Wednesday.
