 Turnbull 's willingness to negotiate with the government was met with opposition from some Coalition MPs . By September 2009 , The Australian was reporting that only 12 of the 59 Liberal backbenchers supported negotiations . On 18 October 2009 , Turnbull fronted a meeting of Coalition MPs with a proposal to negotiate amendments to the government 's ETS . This meeting supported his proposal , in what was seen as a test of Turnbull 's leadership . However , there was speculation that a number of Coalition Senators would defy Turnbull and cross the floor of the Senate to vote against any ETS legislation . The ETS opponents argued that it would be premature for Parliament to pass ETS legislation before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change . 
