Australian politics has worked itself into a frenzy. Prime Minister Tony Abbott, after ridiculing the previous Labor government for its public infighting, faces a leadership challenge from inside his own Liberal Party. A third want a chance to vote him out, and frontbenchers are fending off questions of loyalty as the media hypes up — if not drives — developments.
Abbott went into 2013’s election promising a government of “no surprises,” luring voters tired of electing one Labor leader only to end up, ultimately, with another. The PM’s critics have had ample fodder to feed off recently, attacking his government’s backflips, gaffes and environmental record, but what finally united Australia’s political spectrum, left and right, against Abbott was his decision to make Britain’s Prince Phillip — the queen’s husband, no less — a Knight of the Australian Order without even bothering to consult his Cabinet.
As Abbott’s critics wait to see whether his Cabinet will vote to authorize a leadership challenge — known locally as a “spill motion” — on Monday, it is worth warning spillists that if this happens, Australian politics risks finding itself in a place Japan is barely crawling out of.