Mr Tuckey said he was extremely happy with the outcome of the Liberal leadership challenge earlier this week, particularly the new leader's first act in power.

WA Liberals led the charge against the ETS a view that was reflected in the defeat of the motion in the Senate yesterday.

Mr Tuckey said if Mr Turnbull had heeded his advice and given the Liberals a chance to express their view on ETS in private, he may still be leader.

"I pleaded with Mr Turnbull to have a secret ballot, to gauge the Party Room's attitudes towards Rudd's ETS," he said.

"Had Mr Turnbull done as I suggested a few weeks ago, to settle the matter of whether or not they think this ETS is good for Australia, and had he then chosen to take notice of the result and the good advice of the Party Room, we would not have got to this position.

"The air has been completely cleared now.

"Now we can get on with the job of exposing this ridiculous scheme for what it is; a multi-billion dollar tax increase that will only create minimal reductions in emissions.

"We couldn't carry on dealing with the Government on this issue and needed to delay it further and further into next year.

"It is no good for farming and it's no good for the bush."