PM faces minority government as Kerryn Phelps heads towards Wentworth win

Malcolm Turnbull has flown back into the country, with his Wentworth seat gone, the coalition in minority government, and the Liberals soul searching and finger-pointing over Saturday’s historic loss.

As senior Liberal figures blame the former prime minister for not doing enough to help candidate Dave Sharma, crossbenchers met with Scott Morrison today with a wish list of demands as they prepare to flex their political muscle.

The government must now walk a political tightrope until the general election, needing the support of the crossbench, including Kerryn Phelps, to survive.

Only 1600 votes now separate Ms Phelps from Dave Sharma, but she is favoured to win.

Independent Cathy McGowan, says she wants the government to run its full term, but is urging it to remove children from Nauru to New Zealand, and action on climate change, leaving the door open to voting against the coalition.

But, she says Labor must “come to the party” and support the government.

As Manager of Opposition Business, Tony Burke, urged an early election, he said the Labor Party would consider motions against the government “on a day-to-day basis”.

“The prime minister is taking no messages from that [Wentworth] at all,” Mr Burke said.

“He thinks nothing changes. Nothing matters.

“Under Scott Morrison the chaos has continued and he takes no responsibility for that.

“Scott Morrison said only last week it would be chaos and instability [in minority government].

“If he believes we have instability in the economy, why isn’t he the one calling an election?”

While the final Wentworth result might not be known until possibly late tomorrow, the post mortems are well and truly under way, as the internal tensions continue, and Malcolm Turnbull’s lack of support for Mr Sharma comes under scrutiny.

Mr Sharma himself tried to get the former member to publicly endorse him late last week, but he refused.

Anger in the electorate over Mr Turnbull’s political execution was probably the biggest factor in the massive, by-election losing swing against the government.

And Mr Sharma conceded Mr Turnbull’s intervention would have helped.

While the crossbench wants changes in government policy, Scott Morrison has indicated it’s business as usual.

Ms McGowan won’t back away from demanding asylum seekers be taken off Nauru, but acknowledges it needs Labor support.

“It’s going to have to happen at some stage,” she said.

“Why not now? Sort it out guys.

“I carry in my heart a terrible fear. What if one of those children died this week?

“It was Labor who put the kids there. It’s the government that keeps them there. It’s the Liberal Party that’s got to sort it out.”

The government is refusing to accept the New Zealand to resettle the asylum seekers without legislation, currently in the senate, that would stop them ever coming to Australia.

Moving legislation to have sick children and their families brought to Australia, independent, Andrew Wilkie, said the government is “deliberately misleading” the public about conditions on Nauru.

Mr Wilkie told the House of Reps, of the 70 children in detention, most needed urgent medical treatment and/or assessment, in what is a “humanitarian crisis”.