‘Stop apologising’: Ley backs top Lib’s call for unity

Zac de Silva and Grace Crivellaro | October 15, 2025

Sussan Ley has backed a major speech by one of the Liberal Party’s most senior figures who called for an end to the coalition’s “apology tour”.

Senator James Paterson used a speech in Sydney on Tuesday night to outline his vision for the future of the Liberals.

The opposition’s finance spokesman said a split between moderates and conservatives would plunge Liberals into “permanent opposition” and entrench Labor as the natural party of government.

He urged his colleagues not to “misinterpret” their thumping election loss five months ago and said it was time to get on with developing serious policies.

“We’re absolutely right to be humble after the Liberal Party’s worst-ever defeat in our 81-year history,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“But people aren’t going to vote for us at the next election in two-and-a-half years’ time because we’ve spent a lot of time apologising for our failings.

“They will vote for us if they’re convinced that we’re ready for government, that we have a policy agenda which solves the problems they face in their lives.”

Ms Ley said Senator Paterson’s speech reminded “all Australians of our Liberal values where we back aspiration, where we back hard working Australians that want to get ahead”.

“He actually sent it to me before he delivered it,” the opposition leader told reporters in Melbourne.

“I draw everyone’s attention to the speech, it’s excellent reading.”

Ms Ley said her party has five policy committees which are developing policies, including on net zero.

“We will bring forward a policy that has affordable, reliable energy and it has to be a stable grid, and it has to be stable for households and businesses,” she said, calling Labor’s 2025 targets a “train wreck”.

She also wants to build support among Gen Z and Millennial voters, saying their futures were being “mortgaged” by the Albanese government.

Ms Ley was in Melbourne to shift the debate back to familiar Liberal policies of cracking down on rising youth crime.

Victoria has been in the grips of surging crime rates, with criminal offences spiking by 15.7 per cent in the year to mid-2025 fuelled by thefts, home invasions and repeat youth offenders.

“Melbourne has gone from the most livable city to the crime capital of Australia,” she said.

“This Labor government has not got the situation on control.

“What we must do is back the police, restore community safety, and toughen our laws.”

Ms Ley will hold a child safety roundtable and visit programs dealing with at-risk youth and recidivists, while calling on the Albanese government to intervene to stop the rot.

Earlier in October, opposition home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie quit the front bench because of a disagreement over climate change and immigration policy.

The two issues are emblematic of a broader split between MPs who believe the Liberals should shift toward the political centre, and those who want the party to pursue a more conservative agenda.

But Senator Paterson cautioned his colleagues against any talk of breaking up the Liberals into a conservative party and a more moderate one.

The radical step was predominantly being suggested by people outside parliament and wasn’t in the Liberals’ best interests, he said.

“That would be as successful for the Liberal Party today as the split in the Labor Party was for them in the 1950s,” Senator Paterson said.

“It will end with us being in permanent opposition and achieving the prime minister’s dream of making the Labor Party the natural party of government federally.”