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A revolt is brewing in the ranks of the Country Liberals Government.

The ABC understands the Member for Namatjira, Alison Anderson, led a delegation of three backbenchers to a meeting with Chief Minister Adam Giles and there may have been a threat to quit the party.

The other backbenchers are the Member for Arnhem, Larisa Lee, and the Member for Arafura, Francis Xavier.

However, Ms Anderson denies the possibility of a split.

Talking to Julia Christensen on ABC local radio this morning, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Kezia Purick, accused Ms Anderson of being divisive.

"If they are having a meeting with the Chief Minister, well, they are having a meeting," she said.

"What they ultimately decide is their business.

"If they wish to leave the CLP, then the seating in the parliament will be rearranged accordingly."

"What I am more concerned about, as the Speaker, is that the Member for Namatjira Alison Anderson is just using the parliament as a plaything, and that is just not acceptable."

Ms Purick lashed out at Ms Anderson for forcing a division on a vote in parliament.

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Country Liberals face revolt as NT Indigenous MLAs threaten to quit

The Quebec Liberal Party has a five-point lead over the Parti Quebecois ahead of the first debate of the election campaign, according to a new poll, which suggests voters have been put off by talk of a referendum should the PQ win a majority next month.

The CTV News/Ipsos Reid poll found that if an election were held tomorrow, Quebecs Liberals would receive 37 per cent support from decided voters compared to 32 per cent for the PQ.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec is far behind, with 16 per cent support among decided voters, while Quebec Solidaire would receive 10 per cent support. About 12 per cent of voters were undecided.

CTVNews.ca and CTV News Channel will carry the Quebec leaders debate Thursday at 8 p.m. ET

A vast majority of respondents, some 72 per cent, said that a vote for the PQ is a vote for a referendum on separation, the poll found. Thirty per cent of respondents said they are in favour of Quebecs independence, while 51 per cent said they are not.

Barely a third of Quebecers are in favour of sovereignty, the poll found.

The PQ was polling more strongly at the outset of the campaign, when talk was focused on the partys proposed charter of values, pollster Luc Durand told CTV News.

The PQs fortunes changed, he said, with the entry into the race of candidate Pierre Karl Peladeau, who immediately declared he is jumping into politics because he wants to see Quebec become a country.

The game really changed recently with the debate being less about the charter of values and more about the referendum, Durand said.

And I think because support for the referendum is very low, there are a lot of people who were afraid of this that moved consequently to the Liberals. But the PQ should have the objective in changing the conversation.

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Quebec Liberals hold five-point lead over PQ: poll

A revolt is brewing in the ranks of the Country Liberals Government.

The ABC understands the Member for Namatjira, Alison Anderson, led a delegation of three backbenchers to a meeting with Chief Minister Adam Giles and there may have been a threat to quit the party.

The other backbenchers are the Member for Arnhem, Larisa Lee, and the Member for Arafura, Francis Xavier.

However, Ms Anderson denies the possibility of a split.

Talking to Julia Christensen on ABC local radio this morning, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Kezia Purick, accused Ms Anderson of being divisive.

"If they are having a meeting with the Chief Minister, well, they are having a meeting," she said.

"What they ultimately decide is their business.

"If they wish to leave the CLP, then the seating in the parliament will be rearranged accordingly."

"What I am more concerned about, as the Speaker, is that the Member for Namatjira Alison Anderson is just using the parliament as a plaything, and that is just not acceptable."

Ms Purick lashed out at Ms Anderson for forcing a division on a vote in parliament.

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Country Liberals face revolt as Indigenous MLAs threaten to quit

The Quebec Liberals have increased their lead over the Parti Qubcois in voting intentions ahead of the first of two leaders debates in the province, according to a new Ipsos Reid poll.

The April 7 election has quickly turned into a battle over Quebecs constitutional future, with Philippe Couillards Liberals winning over supporters with their anti-referendum stand. With the support of 37 per cent of respondents, the Liberals have taken the lead over the faltering PQ, which stands at 32 per cent, according to the poll.

The right-wing Coalition Avenir Qubec is in third place at 16 per cent in popular support, with the left-wing Qubec Solidaire in fourth place at 10 per cent.

Mr. Couillard will face off Thursday evening against PQ Leader Pauline Marois, CAQ Leader Franois Legault and QS Leader Franoise David in a debate broadcast on Radio-Canada and Tl-Qubec. A second debate is scheduled one week later on the private TVA network.

The Ipsos Reid poll, based on a sample of 810 Quebeckers from the firms online panel, is the third straight survey to suggest that the Liberals have gained ground on the PQ since the start of the campaign. Ms. Marois called the election this month in a bid to obtain a majority government.

The tide seems to have turned away from Pauline Marois and the PQ, at least for the time being, as just 33 per cent of Quebeckers believe that Quebec is headed in the right track, compared to 67 per cent who think that it is going down the wrong direction, the firm said in its polling analysis.

The PQ has responded to the series of negative polls by sharpening its attacks against Mr. Couillard. On Wednesday, the party also started to increase its focus on its proposed charter of secular values, which would prevent provincial government employees from wearing overt religious symbols at work.

The poll suggests that a key moment in the campaign occurred when Ms. Marois announced that media magnate Pierre Karl Pladeau was running for the PQ in St-Jrme, north of Montreal. Mr. Pladeaus vow to make Quebec a country brought the issue of sovereignty to the forefront of the campaign and gave wind to the Liberal Partys position against a third referendum on sovereignty.

Its a different game now leading into the leaders debate with almost three quarters (72 per cent) of Quebeckers believing that a vote for the Parti Qubcois is a vote for a referendum, Ipsos Reid said.

Support for sovereignty remains low in Quebec, according to the poll.

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New poll finds Quebec Liberals in the lead with 37-per-cent support, PQ at 32

A Liberal fundraising group in Treasurer Joe Hockey's electorate has repaid $33,000 in political donations made by a company being probed by a NSW anti-corruption inquiry.

The North Sydney Forum had initially refunded an amount of $11,000 when allegations surrounding the company Australian Water Holdings were first raised in the media in February last year.

The company's membership of the forum was also ended immediately.

But a spokeswoman for Mr Hockey told AAP on Thursday the treasurer had been advised that other membership fees, dating back to 2009, had been discovered and a further amount of $22,000 had been returned to AWH.

AWH is at the centre of a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry into its dealings with the state-owned Sydney Water.

ICAC heard on Monday the infrastructure company supplied services to Sydney Water on a "costs-plus basis".

AWH executive salaries were hugely inflated and charged back to Sydney Water as administration costs, as were political donations to the NSW Liberal Party, meals, hotels, cars and other expenses.

The inquiry heard that Sydney Water had "unwillingly, unknowingly been a principle donor to the Liberal Party".

Federal Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos, who will appear as a witness at the inquiry in coming weeks, stepped down from his ministerial role on Wednesday until the ICAC hearings are finished.

Senator Sinodinos, a former NSW Liberals treasurer and president, was a director of AWH from 2008 and chairman from 2010.

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Liberals pay back $33,000 in donations