Malcolm Turnbull may have claimed victory in Peter Dutton's leadership challenge, but could face another contest within weeks, with almost half of his MPs wanting him gone.
The prime minister is urging unity in the party after defeating ex-Home Affairs Minister Mr Dutton 48 votes to 35 in the Liberal party room on Tuesday.
"We know that disunity undermines the ability of any government to get its job done," Mr Turnbull told reporters.
"We've got to put 25 million Australians first. They hate it when we are talking about each other."
Mr Dutton resigned from the cabinet after rejecting an offer to stay as Home Affairs minister, and refused multiple chances when questioned by reporters to rule out another challenge.
He said he challenged because he believed he was the best person to lead the Liberal Party to an election victory.
"I harbour no animosity towards Malcolm Turnbull," Mr Dutton told reporters.
"I made a decision to contest this ballot because I want to make sure we can keep Bill Shorten from ever being prime minister of this country."
Mr Dutton said the government must get both its "policies and message right" on power prices, immigration and its pressure on cities, the drought, health, education and aged care.
Mr Dutton says he wants to do everything he can to stop Labor leader Bill Shorten becoming Australian Prime Minister.
Treasurer Scott Morrison will be acting Home Affairs Minister for now, with a ministry reshuffle to come.
Julie Bishop was re-elected unopposed as deputy Liberal leader and ruled out challenging Mr Turnbull for the leadership.
Some Liberal MPs believe Mr Dutton's failed challenge is the beginning of the end of Mr Turnbull's prime ministership, and there may be another leadership ballot later this week or when parliament comes back in September.
"The dead man walking is sitting down the front, but he doesn't have the numbers," veteran Labor MP Jenny Macklin said in parliament.
Mr Dutton started talking about his "lighter side" immediately after resigning from cabinet, and said his public portrayal as a hard man came with the immigration job.
"When you're stuck in front of a camera talking about the serious issues of national security and border protection, it's pretty hard to crack a smile," he told Sky News.
Mr Turnbull called the spill after a week of leadership speculation sparked by Liberals angry with his National Energy Guarantee.
The prime minister caved in to their demands to remove emissions reduction targets from the legislation, but it still wasn't enough.
After Mr Turnbull called the spill - which caught many Liberal MPs off guard - Mr Dutton put his hand up to challenge.
Mr Turnbull's narrow victory leaves him vulnerable to another challenge before the next election.
The coalition has lost 38 successive Newspolls to Labor, eight more than Tony Abbott's record. However, Mr Turnbull has consistently rated higher than Bill Shorten as preferred prime minister.
Mr Shorten failed to get parliament to back a motion of no confidence in the prime minister on Tuesday afternoon.
"If the prime minister's own party don't want him, why on earth should the parliament put up with him?" Mr Shorten said.
SHARE ME