The former Liberal Party president, Shane Stone, has called for the Nationals to be thrown out of the Coalition, while senior Liberals have urged Malcolm Turnbull to tone down his criticism of the Government's handling of the economic crisis because it is turning off voters.
As the Coalition struggled yesterday with new devastating poll figures, the senior frontbencher Andrew Robb blamed last week's Senate split and hinted that a merger between the Liberals and Nationals at federal level was needed.
But Mr Stone said Senator Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals "should leave the Coalition" because "they need to test the theory as to how effective they can be outside the tent".
"Liberals should help them out the door sooner rather than later," he said.
Mr Stone said the Coalition had no option but to back down in the Senate last week after the Government refused to accept Opposition amendments to infrastructure fund bills.
"To do otherwise would have sent the wrong message to a nation that needs reassuring that all their political leaders and parties are on the same page in confronting the world economic crisis," he said.
The outraged Senate Nationals refused to accept the backdown and crossed the floor.
Senator Joyce told the Herald that Mr Stone's suggestion was "ludicrous, moronic and stupid".
"An internecine war would be ashes in both our mouths," he said.
Mr Turnbull agreed with Mr Stone yesterday on the reasons for the Senate backdown, saying "we cannot govern from Opposition".
Mr Turnbull said there were "powerful arguments" for a merger "but it has to come from the grassroots".
Mr Turnbull explained the poll results as a combination of disunity, the Government's $10.4 billion spending package and "a rallying around the Government" because of the global financial crisis.
Mr Turnbull said he had been "very careful to make sure that our criticism of the Government and our opposition to the Government is done in a very constructive way" but that view was not shared by all his colleagues.
A senior Liberal said the Coalition had nitpicked every Government measure announced to deal with the crisis.
"I don't think the electorate's much in a mood for carping," he said.
Inconsistency was also a problem, he said.
The Coalition spent much of the year demanding a pension increase.
The Government's $10.4 billion economic stimulus package includes cash payments for pensioners, yet the Coalition has grown increasingly critical of the package.
On Monday Mr Turnbull said tax cuts would have been preferable.
Another senior Liberal said people were frightened by the crisis and wanted it to go away.
They did not enjoy the spectre of political fighting and the voters understood the crisis was not of the Rudd Government's making.
A Newspoll published in The Australian yesterday found the Coalition's support had plummeted in recent weeks to levels at, or worse, than when Brendan Nelson was Opposition leader.
The Agriculture Minister, Tony Burke, said the Coalition was so fractured at the moment that it was incapable of building a sandcastle.
"There would be someone wanting the bucket, someone wanting the spade. If they did build something, Barnaby would just come and jump on it anyway," he said.
Email a friend