BBC Online :Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has urged an end to disunity after surviving a party confidence vote on his leadership.Liberal Party MPs voted by 61 to 39 not to open up his position to challengers.The leadership test, initiated by a backbencher on Friday, came after a series of policy mis-steps by Abbott that saw his popularity tumble. But the prime minister said the issue had now been settled, stating “this matter is behind us”.”When you elect a government, when you elect a prime minister, you deserve to keep that government and that prime minister until you have a chance to change your mind,” he said.”So the focus now is once more on jobs, families, a stronger economy and a secure nation.”Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull had been seen as a likely leadership challenger if the vote passed, but in the end more party lawmakers rallied round the prime minister.In a subsequent press conference Abbott accepted that recent weeks had been difficult.”We have looked over the precipice and we have decided not to go down the Labor Party path of a damaged, divided and dysfunctional government which votes no confidence in itself,” he said.He promised to hold regular meetings with chairs of backbench committees and admitted that last year’s budget – which proved highly unpopular with voters – was too much, too soon.”With the wisdom of hindsight it was perhaps too bold and too ambitious,” he said, promising no new proposals on the public health system that did not have the broad backing of the medical profession.Tony Abbott has survived a crucial test of his leadership but this may not be the end of the matter.He faces a divided party room, with the vote – 61 against the motion and 39 for – closer than it looks. His cabinet colleagues would have felt bound by a convention of loyalty to the prime minister rather than voting as they saw fit.
