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WHAT LIBERALS ARE SAYING ABOUT MONDAY'S LEADERSHIP SPILL MEETING:

"The only question for our party is do we want reduce ourselves to the level of the Labor Party in dragging down a first-term prime minister?"

- Tony Abbott tells reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

"It's inconceivable it would be in the best interests of either the Liberal Party or the country for the prime minister to go into the parliament tomorrow with this issue unresolved."

- Cabinet minister Mathias Cormann.

"I'm in the cabinet, of course I support the prime minister, everyone supports the prime minister. You don't have to keep on saying that all the time."

- Malcolm Turnbull tells reporters outside his Sydney home on Sunday morning.

"If you are going to be disloyal to someone, you should front them. If I disagreed with the prime minister and if I believed he wasn't the best person to lead the team I would step down from the cabinet - that is the appropriate thing to do"

- Treasurer Joe Hockey when asked whether Tony Abbott could expect all cabinet ministers to oppose the spill motion.

"If, for whatever reason, the leadership of a political party is vacant then any member of the party can stand, whether they be a minister or a backbencher, without any disloyalty to the person whose leadership has been declared vacant."

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What Liberals are saying about the spill

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Newswise COLUMBUS, Ohio New research suggests that liberals, as well as conservatives, can be biased against science that doesnt align with their political views.

The study found that people from both the left and right expressed less trust in science when they were presented with facts that challenged specific politicized issues.

For conservatives, climate change and evolution were the issues that led them to lose some trust in science. For liberals, it was hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and nuclear power.

The results challenge recent books and articles that claim conservatives alone have difficulty dealing with scientific fact.

Liberals are also capable of processing scientific information in a biased manner, said Erik Nisbet, co-author of the study and associate professor of communication and political science at The Ohio State University.

They arent inherently superior to conservatives.

The researchers caution that the results shouldnt be interpreted to create a false balance in which each side could be seen as equally wrong on all issues.

Our point is there is evidence of bias on both sides, although the bias may appear on different issues, said co-author R. Kelly Garrett, also an associate professor of communication at Ohio State.

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Both Liberals, Conservatives Can Have Science Bias

OTTAWAConservative MP Eve Adams has defected to the Liberals, denouncing the mean-spirited leadership and politics of division of the party she leaves behind.

Adams appeared alongside Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau at a Monday morning news conference to make the surprise announcement.

Adams, who represents MississaugaBrampton South, told reporters that the decision comes after a long period of reflection and said the Conservative party no longer represents her values.

The Conservatives, however, cast the decision as pure opportunism by a woman spurned. Party president John Walsh said Adams asked just a couple weeks ago about running in another riding, after the party barred her last summer from running in Oakville NorthBurlington.

I informed her in writing on Jan. 29 that she would not be permitted to run for our party in the next election due to the misconduct from the Oakville NorthBurlington nomination race, Walsh said in a statement.

Adams said Monday that she approached the Liberals several weeks ago, leading to several private conversations with Trudeau. Adams said she told the prime minister about the decision in a letter delivered Monday.

Still, the move comes after Adams was frozen out by the Conservatives and left with no riding to represent that party in the Greater Toronto area.

Adams spoke glowingly of the Trudeau and his optimistic leadership and his welcoming and inclusive vision of Canada, a sharp contrast she said of the party she abandons.

She spoke critically of the partys policies condemning the plan for income splitting and the way it practices politics, saying the Conservatives like to pit one group against another.

But until recently, she was a loyal defender of the Conservatives and in role as parliamentary secretary to the minister of health, spoke out to advocate for its positions in the Commons.

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MP Eve Adams moves to Liberals from Conservatives

Turnbull stays quiet as Abbott faces spill

Liberal MPs are angry Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made another controversial "captain's call" by bringing forward a meeting to consider a leadership spill motion.

They were due to meet in Canberra on Tuesday morning to vote on a spill of the leader and deputy leader positions moved by West Australian backbenchers Luke Simpkins and Don Randall.

But Mr Abbott announced on Sunday morning he had decided to bring the meeting forward to Monday - the first day of parliament for the year.

Expected leadership contender Malcolm Turnbull, who has not yet declared his hand, said it had been a decision for the prime minister.

"He's the prime minister and he's made a captain's call," he told reporters on his way into a party fundraising brunch with deputy leader Julie Bishop in Sydney.

Former minister and respected party elder Senator Arthur Sinodinos said he would be supporting the spill motion.

"I believe we have to have this discussion," he told the ABC on Sunday.

Senator Sinodinos said he was disappointed with the decision to move the meeting forward.

"(Tuesday) is the normal time for these matters to be considered - it gives us proper in-depth discussion of the issues," he said.

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Liberals angry over Abbott spill change

Liberal leadership spill motions can be either secret ballots or a show of hands.

HOW A FEDERAL LIBERAL LEADERSHIP SPILL WORKS:

- 102 members of parliamentary Liberal party gather for special meeting at Parliament House in Canberra at 9am (AEDT) on Monday.

- West Australian MP Luke Simpkins will move a motion to spill all leadership positions. Fellow WA MP Don Randall will second it.

- Prime Minister Tony Abbott has indicated a secret ballot will be held on the motion.

- Whip and deputies count votes and tell party room of the result.

- If the spill fails, the result will be reported to the media.

- If the spill succeeds the positions of leader and deputy are declared vacant.

- Likely to be an immediate call for nominations and a ballot for leader and deputy.

- Liberals have no written rules, only conventions.

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Liberals have no written rules for spill