Tony Abbott Asks MPs To ‘Stop Navel Gazing,’ Jeff Kennett Calls Australia PM’s Leadership ‘Terminal’

Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett said that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s leadership was “terminal.” Queensland Senator Ian Macdonald, on the other hand, said that it was not the “Liberal way” to get involved in a damaging leadership spill.

Related: Abbott’s political career may be over

Kennett earlier said that Abbott should be dumped as soon as possible. Otherwise, he said that there would be risk of destroying the Coalition government. Kennet said that Abbott had no longer been supported by the Liberals. He said that the broader public had also lost faith in Abbott’s leadership.

According to a recent poll by Fairfox-Ipsos, seven out of 10 Australians are confident Bill Shorten is going to lead his party to the next federal election. "Sadly the realisation has dawned on most politicians that where the leadership of the party is now is terminal," Kennett told ABC Radio, "It needs to be resolved as quickly as possible so that the party can move on."

Kennett did not name his favourite candidate who could replace Abbott as the leader. He refused to give one of his colleagues “a kiss of death” by naming that person. Abbott, however, dismissed Kennett’s assessment about the future of his leadership. He said that Kennett was entitled to his opinion. Abbott asked his colleagues to “stop the navel gazing” and focus on Australia. He suggested that his colleagues should “get on with governing the country.”

Liberal MPs Warren Entsch and Dennis Jensen said publicly on Tuesday that they had no longer supported Abbott’s leadership. Former Howard government cabinet minister Mal Brough earlier demanded that Abbott should scrap the proposed $5 Medicare co-payment.

Not everyone appears to be ready to make a change in the leadership. The Australian reports that former Prime Minister John Howard said he would continue to extend his strong support for Abbott. While there is a strong negativity against Abbott in his party itself, his critics want to replace him with either Malcolm Turnbull or Julie Bishop.

Both Turnbull and Bishop said that they would not challenge Abbott for the leadership. They made it clear that they would prefer leaving it to others for a forced change.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@IBTimes.com.au