Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull fronted the media on August 23 and described the threat to his leadership and the shutdown of the House of Representatives as an “internal insurgency”.During the press conference, Turnbull announced he would stand down on the condition that a majority of his party sign a letter requesting a formal challenge for party leadership.It’s been a tumultuous week in Australian politics due to a series of manoeuvres from the conservative right to depose the prime minister and replace him with Peter Dutton, the former Home Affairs Minister responsible for enforcing Australia’s offshore detention policies. Dutton had unsuccessfully challenged Turnbull during a leadership spill on Monday, losing a ballot 48 to 35 and resigning from his ministry position and moving to the party’s backbench.Throughout the week, Dutton continued shoring up support to remove Turnbull and by Thursday morning the prime minister’s senior team had resigned and called for a leadership change. The resulting chaos resulted in the lower house adjourning until September 10.If Dutton takes the prime minister role, it would be the fourth time in eight years that an Australian Prime Minister has been successfully removed by their own party.However, amid the latest crisis in leadership, it was revealed Dutton may be in breach of the constitution and could be ineligible to sit in parliament due to being a beneficiary of childcare centres that receives commonwealth subsidies. His government has sought advice from its chief legal adviser on the matter. Credit: Australian Parliament House via Storyful
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