Australian opposition leader to fight for leadership

CANBERRA, Nov. 30 — Australian Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull on Monday refused to step aside as federal Liberal leader, saying he will contest a leadership contest tomorrow.

"I am the leader and I'll be standing tomorrow," he told reporters.

"He would support me tomorrow in the spill," Turnbull said of Hockey.

"He told me that he'd vote against a spill."

Earlier, Turnbull spent nearly an hour inside his Parliament House office with Joe Hockey, the man most expect to be the party's new leader after a meeting of Liberal Members of Parliament and senators.

Turnbull said Hockey still supported him in terms of his climate change strategy and the deal the coalition negotiated with the government to pass legislation setting up the carbon pollution reduction scheme.

"Joe is on the record regularly, frequently … in multimedia form supporting the position of the shadow cabinet," he said.

"I'm not going to go into the conversation we had with Mr. Hockey, but as far as I'm aware he hasn't changed his mind.

"It is manifestly in the interest for Australia to take action to cut its CO2 emissions." (PNA/Xinhua) FFC/utb

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