Knives out in post-election shake up
Deputy leader Sussan Ley confirmed her leadership candidacy on Friday and was soon followed by shadow treasurer Angus Taylor.
Blood is being spilled across the political aisle as party leaderships are on the table and powerbrokers carve up the spoils of victory.
Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley has officially announced her tilt at the leadership, confirming she will put herself forward to refresh a decimated party.
Ley confirmed her candidacy on Friday and said in a statement that “many Australians, including women and younger Australians, feel neglected by the Liberal Party”.
“We must rebuild trust with all sections of Australian society,” she said
“My election as leader of the Liberal Party would send a very strong signal that we understand things need to be done differently.”
The Liberals will meet in Canberra on Tuesday to choose a new leader.
Ms Ley has the support of the party’s moderates, with some believing a woman at the helm will help repair the party’s negative image among female voters.
After much speculation, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor also announced his candidacy for the leadership, promising to rebuild the party around its core values, such as sound economic management and aspiration.
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“I will provide leadership that unites our party, that puts our cause above sectional interests and that reaches beyond our base and earns the trust of the voters that we’ve lost,” Taylor said in a statement.
Frontbencher Dan Tehan, who holds the rural seat of Wannon in Victoria’s west, ruled himself out of the Liberal leadership race.
The leadership battle threatens to blow apart the coalition following the high-profile defection of Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who has jumped ship from the Nationals to the Liberals.
Price is expected to run as Taylor’s deputy.
As a Country Liberal Party senator from the Northern Territory, Price can choose to sit in either party room, but has historically sided with the Nationals.
Her colleagues have expressed disappointment as the loss of a Nationals senator takes the party below the five needed in the Senate to receive entitlements offered to larger parties.
Queensland MP Michelle Landry branded it disloyal.
“We’re all very upset that she’s decided to move over to the Liberals, and I just think that there’s a lack of loyalty there,” she told ABC radio.
People who ran under one party and then jumped ship when they were elected should be disendorsed and run under their own banner, Landry said.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie accused the Liberals of actively recruiting Senator Nampijinpa Price five days out from an election.
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“That is not the behaviour of trusted partners,” she told Sky News.
“I’ve been on the phone late into last night with Territorians in the CLP very concerned about this decision and what it means for them and their representation.”
Senator Nampijinpa Price said she did not make the decision to move parties lightly and wants to help rebuild the Liberal Party after its worst loss in history, but hasn’t officially confirmed a tilt for deputy.
“To be quite honest, it is something that I wanted to do from the first time I was elected (in 2022) … and chose at that time that I needed to sit in the National party-room,” she told Sydney radio station 2GB.
Tony Abbott had spoken to her and supported the move, she said.
Despite its landslide win, Labor hasn’t emerged unscathed in the election aftermath with a brutal move from internal powerbrokers resulting in two cabinet ministers being dumped to make way for fresh faces.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Industry Minister Ed Husic were axed from the ministry as Labor’s more progressive left and more conservative right factions carved up the 30 spots.
Dreyfus will be replaced in the ministry by Victorian MP Sam Rae, a factional ally of Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles who hails from the same state.
Husic was dumped to rebalance the ledger between the NSW and Victorian right with the former over-represented in Cabinet as spots are decided on a proportional basis between factions and states.
Health Minister Mark Butler said the government had to “balance stability with some renewal”, acknowledging it was tough for the two senior MPs.
“But that’s how democratic processes work,” he told ABC TV.
Labor senators Jess Walsh and Tim Ayres will also be promoted.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will address caucus on Friday where the ministerial nominations will be rubber-stamped.
Albanese will then allocate portfolios over the weekend ahead of the ministry being sworn in on Tuesday.
– AAP
