Nelson To Get Tough On Aberrant Mps As Leadership Tremors Continue

The Age

Saturday March 8, 2008

Misha Schubert, Canberra

OPPOSITION Leader Brendan Nelson has declared he will personally consider requests for leave from Coalition MPs in a bid to stop a repeat of the furore over his globetrotting backbenchers working second jobs.

And he has told former Nationals leader Mark Vaile that his Middle East trip this week as a lobbyist for a private company may not have breached any rules but "it wouldn't pass the pub test in any part of Australia".

But after a horror week for the Coalition amid dismal polls, frontbencher Greg Hunt yesterday insisted there was 100% support for Dr Nelson as leader.

In a testimony to Dr Nelson's character, Mr Hunt said his boss had saved the life of a man having a heart attack on a beach three years ago, but didn't seek praise or publicity. "The measure of the guy is where there was real human life at stake, he stepped in, he acted, and when he had the chance to skite about it, he kept it to himself," he said.

But senior Liberals say Dr Nelson's leadership is far from secure, although any challenge would not occur until after a host of byelections that are expected once several former ministers quit politics after the May budget. Shadow treasurer Malcolm Turnbull fuelled such speculation on Thursday when he repeatedly refused to rule out a challenge in the future.

Dr Nelson insisted yesterday that he was not concerned by Mr Turnbull's refusal, insisting: "We are a team."

He vowed to press on as leader saying people had written him off before. "I can assure you that I am very determined."

Seeking to douse the controversy over Mr Vaile and Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey giving paid political lectures on a Pacific cruise ship, Dr Nelson flagged that he would assert more control in future. "I've spoken to our chief whip about it and I will be personally looking at requests for leave," he said.