Australia's prime minister faces leadership challenge

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia's beleaguered Prime Minister Tony Abbott could face a second challenge to his position this year, after a senior minister on Monday called on Abbott to allow a vote on his party leadership.

Former Liberal Party leader and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he asked the prime minister to open up the party's leadership to an internal vote, as the two-year-old conservative coalition government struggles in opinion polls.

It was not immediately clear if Abbott will agree, but he is now under intense pressure to prove he has the support of his colleagues.

"Ultimately, the prime minister has not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs," Turnbull told reporters. "He has not been capable of providing the economic confidence that business needs."

The government has trailed the opposition in a range of opinion polls since April last year. Abbott survived a leadership challenge from within his party in February that was prompted by those polls and what some say were questionable judgments he made. At the time, Abbott asked his colleagues to give him six months to improve his government's popularity.

That deadline has passed without the government regaining a lead over the opposition in the polls. General elections are due around September next year.

Turnbull, a 60-year-old former lawyer and merchant banker known for his moderate views, has long been considered Abbott's chief rival. Turnbull was opposition leader for two years before he lost a party-room ballot by a single vote to Abbott in 2009. His downfall was his belief that Australia should make polluters pay for their greenhouse gas emissions.