Liberal Party members are pushing to expel Malcolm Turnbull from the party in an extraordinary move sparked by his support of a campaign to force Tony Abbott out of parliament.
The Roseville branch of the Liberal Party, on Sydney's north shore, on Tuesday night passed a motion to remove the ousted prime minister from the party by a vote of 16 to two, The Australian reported.
Sources told the paper the move was brought about after Mr Turnbull and his family followed Instagram account - 'Vote Tony Out' - which is pushing to defeat Mr Abbott in his Warringah electorate on Sydney's northern beaches.
In passing the motion, branch sources also cited Mr Turnbull's failure to support the party during the Wentworth by-election in his old seat, as well as his knifing of Mr Abbott and Brendan Nelson during his time in parliament.
The branch is in the Bradfield electorate of a key former Turnbull backer, Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher, from the party's moderate faction.
The motion will now go before the Liberal Party's Federal Electorate Conference - and if successful - will move to the party's state council.
It would be a humiliation for Mr Turnbull, who first joined the Liberal Party in 1973 when he was 19.
Mr Turnbull, who knifed Tony Abbott as PM in September 2015, had followed the 'Vote Tony Out' page supporting a possible independent challenger.
The former prime minister, his wife Lucy and son Alex were among the first of 10,000 people to follow the page.
'Warringah and its citizens, why we don't like Tony Abbott, one story at a time,' the page reads.
On its website, the campaign urges its followers to wear 'Time's Up Tony' t-shirts and vows: 'It's time to build our Tribe.'
'Wearing a "Time's Up Tony" T-Shirt is such a positive experience. Share your thoughts with others and see the magic happen,' the website reads.
'You will find that you aren't alone in your thoughts. There are many of us out there. Wear the T-Shirt and build the Tribe.'
Mr Turnbull's social media activity comes after he named Mr Abbott among the nine 'insurgents' he claimed conspired to depose him in August's leadership spill.
He isn't the first former Liberal prime minister to fall out with the party, with John Gorton resigning in 1975 as Malcolm Fraser's Opposition plotted to block supply in the Senate when Gough Whitlam was Labor PM.
Malcolm Fraser also quit the Liberal Party in his final years of life, in protest at the treatment of asylum seekers.
Another former Liberal leader John Hewson, who never became PM, has also become an outspoken critic of the party's climate change policies and last month urged Wentworth voters in Sydney's east to back independent Kerryn Phelps.
The Roseville branch of the Liberal Party last year hosted Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi, even though he had quit their party to form his own.
The right-wing branch has also previously hosted former federal Labor leader Mark Latham, who has since joined One Nation.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6412145/Roseville-Liberal-Party-branch-moves-expel-Malcolm-Turnbull-party.html
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