One of Tony Abbott's backbenchers is urging the city-based Prime Minister to stop reacting to the "texting, latte-sipping, keyboard warriors who frequent the tapas bars of Sydney and Melbourne" and visit a country pub to get an "honest appraisal" of how the government can improve.
NSW Nationals MP Michael McCormack told Fairfax Media he did not support Mr Abbott's decision to knight Prince Philip on Australia Day, saying it had left most voters "scratching their heads".
The parliamentary secretary to the Finance Minister said the decision went against the grain of "most ordinary everyday Australians" and had exposed the government to "ridicule".
Mr McCormack said the Prime Minister's judgment call had made backbenchers "jumpy". The backlash to the knighting of Prince Philip has been fiercest amongst the Prime Minister's most ardent supporters with conservative columnist Andrew Bolt on Thursday declaring it could be "fatal" for Mr Abbott's leadership.
The Member for Riverina said prime ministers are entitled to make "captain's picks" and while "99 per cent of the time" Mr Abbott got it right, he could have used "wider and wiser judgment" on this occasion.
He urged the Prime Minister to visit the Royal Hotel in Grong Grong "in a hurry" to hear what country Australians want from the government, instead of responding to the "tea leaf reading groups" who set the hashtags on social media.
Mr McCormack said unlike the "texting, latte sipping, keyboard warriors who frequent the tapas bars of Melbourne and Sydney", "real fair dinkum Australians" in the country didn't have time to tweet all day but had time to reflect at the end of the day and would be unafraid to give the Prime Minister an "honest appraisal" of his work over a shandy.
Mr Abbott initially dismissed the criticism of his decision to award Prince Philip a knighthood, describing it the negative reaction on social media as "electronic graffiti".
Phones are running hot in the Coalition with backbenchers calling each other to sound out the mood and the Prime Minster ringing his team to continue his one-on-one consultations.
Liberal backbencher Ken Wyatt called for his colleagues to keep "cool heads" and wait until Parliament resumes when the Prime Minister will have his first opportunity to address his team since announcing the Australia Day honour for the Duke of Edinburgh.
"Let's keep cool heads and listen to what the leader has to say and not be too judgmental until what we know all the detail," he said.
"Let's wait until we get back to the party room, until then we're players in a team and we support the leader."
Media baron Rupert Murdoch has also been scathing of Mr Abbott's decision and on Twitter made an extraordinary intervention, calling for Mr Abbott's chief of staff to resign for the good of the country or be sacked.
Mr Abbott has accepted responsibility for the fallout and promised to consult his colleagues more widely in future.
