Supporters of Liberal MP Peter Dutton are circulating a petition tonight to call on a second leadership ballot.

It comes just one day after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull defeated Mr Dutton in a ballot, Mr Dutton’s backers are calling on Liberal MPs to support the petition.

If the petition gets to 43 signatures, the Prime Minister will have to agree to hold the special partyroom meeting.

 It could happen as soon as Wednesday evening but is more likely to happen on Thursday, the final sitting day of this parliamentary fortnight.

Mr Dutton quit his position as home affairs minister after narrowly losing a leadership challenge to Mr Turnbull on Tuesday.

Earlier, he confirmed he was preparing for another challenge.

Peter Dutton smiles during question time on Wednesday.

AAP

“You don’t go into a ballot believing that you can lose, and if I believe that a majority of colleagues support me then I would consider my position,” Mr Dutton told 3AW radio in Melbourne on Wednesday.

“I’m speaking to colleagues. I’m not going to beat around the bush.”

But he’s also being scrutinised for public funding given to his child care centres in Brisbane, which could make him ineligible to sit in parliament.

Section 44 of the constitution bans from parliament anyone who has “any direct or indirect pecuniary interest with the public service of the Commonwealth” – a section which led to former senator Bob Day being disqualified in 2017.

From July 2 this year, child care centres receive a direct subsidy from the federal government.

“The Member for Dickson has advised me that he is not in breach of section 44 and I have no reason there to believe that he is,” Mr Turnbull told parliament on Wednesday.

Sky News reported later on Wednesday the government had now sought advice from the solicitor-general on Mr Dutton’s eligibility.

Mathias Cormann, Malcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison.

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Labor also pressed the prime minister on whether Mr Dutton left cabinet when the child care funding changes were discussed, as he did in previous governments.

“I will get advice from the cabinet secretary and I will report back to the House as soon as I have it,” Mr Turnbull told parliament.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott and former minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton on the backbench.

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Former prime minister Tony Abbott said Mr Turnbull could be playing “dirty tricks” against a leadership rival.

“Whether these are dirty tricks from a Labor party which is desperate not to have Peter Dutton as its opponent, or whether this is just one last throw from a despairing incumbent, I just don’t know,” he told 2GB radio.

Mr Dutton launched a charm offensive on Melbourne radio in a bid to let voters know who he is, revealing his idea for a royal commission into electricity and fuel prices.

But his plan to exclude household electricity bills from the GST copped a belting.

“That would be a budget blower, an absolute budget blower,” Treasurer Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

He said it would deprive the states and territories of $7.5 billion over four years.

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen said Mr Dutton’s “crazy” proposal would mean cuts to health and education.