Ley downplays leadership talk, insists party ‘united’
Zac de Silva, Grace Crivellaro and Andrew Brown |
Sussan Ley insists the Liberal Party is speaking as one on common values despite tensions on energy policy leading to speculation over her leadership.
An internal rift over emissions targets and a series of dire polls have supercharged suggestions Ms Ley’s days as opposition leader are numbered, with Liberal senator Sarah Henderson on Friday stopping well short of endorsing her.
“I do have to say really honestly, I do think Sussan is losing support, but I do believe in miracles,” Senator Henderson said.
“We can turn things around, but things are not good.”
Ms Ley brushed aside the comments from her colleague.
“I’m not commenting on commentary. What I am saying is that every one of my team is absolutely united behind the focus that we have right now, which is to hold this Labor government to account,” she told reporters in Canberra.
“We are united around our values, the values of the Liberal Party: aspiration, enterprise, freedom and choice.”
After weeks of internal brawling on the party’s position on net zero, Liberal members are due soon to decide a position on retaining or dumping the climate emissions goal, adopted by then-prime minister Scott Morrison in 2021.
A partyroom meeting will be held on Wednesday and shadow cabinet will meet to formalise their position the following day.
But even if the Liberals land a cohesive plan amid fierce internal divisions, they will still need to strike an agreement with junior coalition partner the Nationals, who have dropped the net-zero target.
The opposition leader said all views within the party would be welcome in the debate.
“I’m not going to presuppose the outcome of that meeting because I made it clear when I became leader that every single member of my party room would be enfranchised to contribute to the policy discussion about energy,” she said.
“(The meeting) will be a very important moment in our party, because it will demonstrate the focus we have on backing in the Australians that we are here to work hard for every single day.”
Net-zero critic Andrew Hastie dismissed speculation Ms Ley’s leadership would soon be challenged.
Mr Hastie, who is seen as a leadership contender, watered down suggestions he was coming for Ms Ley’s job after he was seen out for dinner with a group of conservatives in Canberra earlier in the week.
“There was nothing to it, it was just good friends catching up,” the West Australian MP told Sydney radio 2GB.
“I can’t pretend things are good. We had a dire Newspoll result with a primary vote of just 24 per cent, things are not travelling well.”
Mr Hastie said the coalition could still turn things around by settling on an energy policy that lowered power prices.
“The thing we have to do is come to a position on net zero and that’s my singular focus,” Mr Hastie said.
“Until we sort that out, it doesn’t matter who leads the party.”
Former Liberal leader John Hewson earlier delivered a withering assessment of Ms Ley and the party she leads in the midst of the fractious policy debate.
“She hasn’t shown any clear strategy, or any strong capacity in terms of leadership,” he told AAP.
Mr Hewson, who let his membership lapse in 2019 because of concerns about the party’s record on climate change, said the opposition was devoid of serious policies because its members had little experience outside politics.
“They haven’t got people with significant business experience … I don’t think that they’ve got people who are policy wonks in economic policy,” he said.
“You can’t just keep being negative and hoping to win on criticism, as (Tony) Abbott did.”
AAP
