Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott And His Wife Margie
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his wife Margie prepare to place floral tributes near the cafe in central Sydney December 16, 2014 where hostages were held for over 16-hours. Heavily armed Australian police stormed a Sydney cafe early on Tuesday morning and freed a number of hostages being held there at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a 16-hour siege in which three people including the attacker were killed. Reuters/David Gray

According to some of colleagues of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, his days of leadership are over. Some cabinet ministers say the backbench demands a change.

The ministers believe it is the backbenchers who hold power and they are increasingly getting agitated against Mr. Abbott. According to an unnamed minister, the prime minister is merely there at the good will of the backbench. Herald Sun quotes a number of other ministers who talk about the frustration against Mr. Abbott's leadership.

One of them says that all factions of the backbench are showing "widespread anger, frustration and disappointment" against the Aussie PM. Another says the Queensland election result is a “complete disaster on an unexpected scale.” An Abbott loyalist, however, assures the Liberals have never thrown out a first-term prime minister.

There are discussions about the person who can replace Mr. Abbott as a leader. The name that is mostly discussed is Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Meanwhile, one minister states Foreign Affairs Minister Julia Bishop could stay on as Deputy Leader and Social Services Minister Scott Morrison may get promoted to Treasurer.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports Australian voters already appear to be in a post-Abbott world. 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.

According to the Attorney-General George Brandis, it will be "crazy" to repeat the experience of the last Labor government. Shorten earlier said the agonisings of the Liberals is the "exact same debate." But he said it was happening even quicker than it had happened under Labor. Even though people were shocked to see a coup against Kevin Rudd as he was quite popular during that time, a similar reaction may be difficult if something similar happens to Mr. Abbott.

However, all the ministers who talked to Herald Sun clarified there is not going to be any "Labor-style" rebellion against Mr. Abbott. Some members of the party believe the Liberals will be reduced to the status of "chaos and dysfunction" just like Labor under the Rudd and Julia Gillard governments. Only three out of 10 Australians still believe in Mr. Abbott’s leadership, according to the recent poll.