Senior Australian ministers offer to resign, call for second leadership vote

REUTERS - Besieged Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's leadership looked doomed on Thursday (August 23) after three of his senior ministers announced they had tendered their resignations and called for a second leadership vote. The ministers, who supported Turnbull in a leadership ballot on Tuesday (August 21) against former home affairs minister Peter Dutton, said they had changed their position and now backed Dutton. Turnbull only won the Tuesday (August 21) contest by seven votes. Dutton on Thursday publicly called for another leadership vote. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, Turnbull's key cabinet supporter who tendered his resignation, said he supported a new leader of the Liberal Party.