Make Tony Abbott's departure bloodless like Ted Baillieu's, say Victorian Liberals

By Josh GordonFeb. 1, 2015, 6:57 p.m.

Federal Liberals from Victoria are calling for a bloodless, orderly leadership transition reminiscent of the March 2013 switch of the state's Premier from Ted Baillieu to Denis Napthine.

Federal Liberals from Victoria are calling for a bloodless, orderly leadership transition reminiscent of the March 2013 switch of the state's Premier from Ted Baillieu to Denis Napthine.

Although the state Coalition lost the November 2014 election becoming the first single-term government in Victoria since 1955 the Baillieu-Napthine transition is now being viewed by some as a template to convince Prime Minister Tony Abbott to step aside peacefully.

As one senior federal Liberal put it, the scale of the disaster for the LNP in Queensland has made the Coalition's election loss in Victoria "look like a strong performance" by comparison.

Labor won 47 seats in the 88 seat house at the November, 2014 election, enough to form government with a small majority after a net gain of just four seats.

Mr Baillieu resigned as Liberal leader and premier and March 6, 2013 after conceding he no longer had the support of his colleagues. Dr Napthine was elected virtually unopposed by his party later that night.

Although the switch was never fully explained to voters, the transition was made with a minimum of recriminations, allowing the Coalition to avoid obvious comparisons with federal Labor.

Federal Victorian Liberals say a similar transition represented a "best-case" scenario which should be emulated to avoid caparisons with the Kevin Rudd-Julia Gillard leadership debacle.

"There has been a very strong mood against a random ... leadership tilt to see what happens," a senior Liberal said. "From what I can pick up, the feeling is we need to be grown up about this."

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Make Tony Abbott's departure bloodless like Ted Baillieu's, say Victorian Liberals

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