CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Sunday he has moved up a challenge to his leadership to Monday in the interests of ending uncertainty about his government’s direction.
The challenge was triggered by disgruntled government lawmakers last week and was to be discussed on Tuesday at the first scheduled meeting for the year of the ruling Liberal Party’s 102 lawmakers. But Abbott said he had arranged a special meeting for Monday morning, leaving some lawmakers scrambling to book earlier flights to the nation’s capital.
“The last thing Australia needs right now is instability and uncertainty,” Abbott said.
Abbott has come under increasing criticism from some members of his own party – which is conservative despite its name – over the government’s sagging approval ratings. Polls have slumped since May, when the government’s first annual budget was widely criticized as toughest on the poor and most vulnerable.
A polarizing figure, Abbott likes to project himself as a macho man of action, but he also has image problems, particularly among female voters.