Senior Libs back Abbott with no-spill vote

REACTION TO A MOVE TO SPILL THE FEDERAL LIBERAL PARTY LEADERSHIP NEXT WEEK:

HOW IT STARTED: Liberal backbencher Luke Simpkins wrote to his colleagues advising them he was moving a motion to spill the party leadership when the MPs meet in Canberra on Tuesday.

SIMPKINS: "I think most people around the country unfortunately have stopped listening to the prime minister and if he's not being listened to them he can't lead."

PRIME MINISTER TONY ABBOTT: "We are not the Labor party and we are not going to repeat the chaos and the instability of the Labor years."

PM AGAIN: "I have spoken to deputy leader Julie Bishop and we will stand together in urging the party room to defeat this particular motion."

JULIE BISHOP: "Agreed with the prime minister that due to cabinet solidarity and her position as deputy there should be support for the current leadership in this spill motion."

SOCIAL SERVICES MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON: "The matter is now before the party room but my position (not to seek the leadership) has not changed."

FINANCE MINISTER MATHIAS CORMANN: "I absolutely believe Tony Abbott is the right man to turn this around. There are issues to be sorted out of course and that ought to happen in the party room on Tuesday after this motion has been defeated."

DEFENCE MINISTER KEVIN ANDREWS: "The test is whether we're going to be different to the Labor party, that we're going to be a grown-up government. We're looking like a third world country over the last few years of Labor with the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd experiment."

TRADE MINISTER ANDREW ROBB: "It's totally unnecessary and it'll make us look a bit of a circus frankly."

GOVERNMENT SENATE LEADER ERIC ABETZ: "For goodness sakes, let's get real and deal with the real issues confronting our nation."

SMALL BUSINESS MINISTER BRUCE BILLSON: "This spill motion will not succeed. It would be an act of self-harm."

IMMIGRATION MINISTER PETER DUTTON: "The prime minister hasn't been given a fair go to deliver his words into action."

ASSISTANT TREASURER JOSH FRYDENBERG: "I'm sure he (Malcolm Turnbull) would join me and Julie Bishop and Tony Abbott and others in opposing this motion."

LIBERAL MP ANDREW NIKOLIC: "I think my overwhelming feeling is one of disappointment."

FORMER LIBERAL MP ROSS CAMERON (a friend of Tony Abbott's for 20 years): "The Liberal party needs to change leader."