source : the age
If you are just catching up on the Liberal leadership challenge, here’s everything that has happened this morning after challenger Angus Taylor resigned from the shadow cabinet last night.
The morning kicked off with the resignation of Phil Thompson from the shadow NDIS portfolio. Along with his resignation letter, he and Senator Jess Collins requested a special party room meeting from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. The meeting, in which the leadership would be voted on, has been scheduled for 9am tomorrow morning.
Taylor believes he has the numbers to win the leadership.
Shortly after Thompson’s resignation, Angus Taylor declared he was challenging for the leadership through an Instagram post. Ley then put up her own social media post saying she offered “a better future”.
Throughout the course of the day there have been a series of resignations from the frontbench by Taylor backers. The most high-profile resignations have come from home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam and former finance spokesperson James Paterson. They were joined by senators Matt O’Sullivan and Claire Chandler. A number of MPs including Ben Small and Sarah Henderson have backed Taylor’s challenge.
There is also a race for the deputy leadership, currently held by shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien, with Victorian senator Jane Hume emerging as a frontrunner.
Shadow special minister of state James McGrath has resigned from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s frontbench, saying he intended to vote for a leadership spill.
“While I realise this news won’t please everyone, it is important that Australia has a strong and effective opposition,” McGrath said in a statement.
“I have made this decision as I believe it is in the best interest of Queensland, Australia and the Liberal National Party.”
McGrath acknowledged Ley’s service as leader, and thanked her for the privilege of serving in shadow cabinet.
“Anthony Albanese is Australia’s worst prime minister. Whether on net zero, immigration, violent Islamic extremism, cost of living or keeping Australians safe – Labor and Anthony Albanese have failed. We must take the fight to Labor and I have made this decision with that at the forefront,” he said.
“Robert Menzies in the 1940s spoke and wrote about the forgotten people. We must find, nurture and grow the new forgotten people.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has launched a broad attack on the Coalition’s priorities, especially the timing of their internal ructions over recent months.
“Every time we come here to Canberra those opposite have shown that their focus is on each other and on themselves,” he said.
Albanese criticised Angus Taylor for resigning but not challenging for the Liberal leadership shortly after Israeli President Isaac Herzog had visited Parliament House.
“On the national day of mourning for victims of the antisemitic Bondi [shooting], they announced that the Coalition was splitting for the second time,” the prime minister said.
“On the day of the funeral of the well respected, across this parliament, member for Higgins, the members for Hume and Canning were publicly plotting against their leader at a house in Melbourne,” he said.
“Tomorrow, on the morning in which members of the stolen generations will attend the breakfast at eight o’clock, tomorrow morning at nine o’clock those opposite will be… filing into their party room in order to either depose or reaffirm who the leader [of the Liberal Party is].”
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has used a question on family services to attack Angus Taylor’s challenge to Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.
“Since we’ve come to government, Australians getting paid parental leave are about $12,000 better off under this prime minister. So after 40 weeks of carrying a baby, mums and dads can look forward to six months off,” Plibersek said.
“But after 39 weeks of carrying the Liberal Party, I’d say this leader of the opposition can also look forward to a little bit of time off from the job,” she said.
She then sledged Taylor, saying: “The member for Hume has said that a crusade was needed to attract more women to the Liberal Party. He said we absolutely need more women in the party at every level. I don’t think he meant every level.”
Education Minister Jason Clare has offered a number of creative attacks on the opposition over the last fortnight, as attention has been focused on a challenge to Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s leadership.
Last week, Clare said the opposition made the Beckhams look like a “happy family”, following a public spat between Brooklyn Peltz Beckham and his parents.
Today, Clare has evoked a bit of Ancient Rome and a bit of Shakespeare, saying: “Julius Caesar had more support from his senators than what we’ve seen going on over there today”.
A key difference between Caesar’s “leadership challenge” and Ley’s is the opposition leader knows what’s coming tomorrow.
The vibe on the Liberal backbench has been very mixed during this sitting of question time, as they face the choice tomorrow morning over who they want to lead the party.
There have been occasional moments in which the government has been able to whip opposition MPs into a frenzy with political attacks, but for the most part, the Liberal backbenchers have spent the afternoon staring at their phones and iPads.
It’s hard to say why the MPs are spending so much time on their phones. It could be the typical boredom of question time. It could also be frantic attempts to find out which way tomorrow’s vote will go.
A mostly subdued Liberal backbench has erupted after Minister for Infrastructure Catherine King accused the party of a gendered attack on Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.
“In the last nine months, what we’ve seen is persistent undermining of the Liberal Party’s first-ever female leader, from day one. Now, that’s not my words. That’s not my words. That is the words of your shadow attorney-general,” King said.
“And I couldn’t agree more. Persistent undermining from day one while the Liberals engage in the embarrassing spectacle,” she said.
As she spoke, Liberal MPs erupted in loud jeers directed at the minister. Among the cacophony, MP Garth Hamilton could be heard loudly shouting, “You guys all knifed Julia [Gillard]”, pointing at the government benches.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy has accused Angus Taylor of being more concerned with his own ambition than his role of opposition defence spokesman, from which he resigned last night to challenge for the Liberal leadership.
“What’s the former shadow defence minister been up to? He certainly hasn’t been asking many questions in parliament. Three defence questions in 285 days,” Conroy told the chamber.
“He’s decided the simplest solution is to just disappear. You can’t fail if no one knows you’re the shadow defence minister,” he said.
Conroy said Taylor was focused on self-interest rather than the national interest.
“We’re acquiring stealth fighters. He was a stealth shadow minister. We’re investing record amounts in our submarines as part of the silent service, he was a silent defence spokesperson,” he said.
“We’re focused on defence. He’s blowing up the Liberal Party.”
Despite the fact that this may be her last question time as opposition leader, Sussan Ley is putting on a brave face amid an onslaught of sledges from government ministers.
Earlier in the session, she had a big laugh at a direct joke from the prime minister about tomorrow’s leadership challenge.
She has spent most of the session with her hands crossed in her lap, looking at notes and watching proceedings. This is her typical demeanour in question time.
Sitting three rows behind her is her leadership challenger, Angus Taylor, who has spent most of the past 40 minutes on his phone. He certainly has plenty of messages to send before the big challenge tomorrow at 9am.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has used another question to launch an assault on the credibility of Liberal leadership challenger Angus Taylor.
Here’s what he said:
“It was part of the member for Hume’s [2025] election platform for higher income taxes, bigger deficits and more debt. And that’s especially relevant today.
“It was the member for Hume himself who told [the ABC’s] David Speers only in March, and I’m quoting: ‘The best indicator of future performance is past performance’. That’s what the member for Hume said.
“That should send a shiver up the spine of every Liberal and every Australian, Mr Speaker. That sense of entitlement that defines the member for Hume is only matched by the cloud of incompetence which surrounds him.
“I’m not sure that Senator Paterson was being especially helpful to the Liberal cause when he described the member for Hume, and I’m quoting as: ‘The smartest policy brain … in shadow cabinet’.
“You can read that one of two ways. I don’t know what’s more worrying – that it’s false, or that it might be true.”
Things are starting to get a bit rowdy in question time. The deputy leader of the opposition, who is also the shadow treasurer, rose to ask Treasurer Jim Chalmers about the national debt.
In his question, Ted O’Brien accused Chalmers of “dishonesty” – a word that the two men debated earlier in the week.
After the term was withdrawn, Chalmers began his response by saying: “It’s kind of you to refer to him as the deputy leader, Mr Speaker.”
A call from the backbench was yelled out: “It’s his correct title.”
Chalmers responded: “Yeah, for now it is.”
A number of Liberal MPs have been mooted for the deputy leadership at tomorrow’s special party room meeting, with Senator Jane Hume emerging as the frontrunner.
Chalmers continued, accusing the former Coalition government of budget mismanagement and saying Labor had put in efforts to reduce the debt.
“In every long list of possible deputy leaders and shadow treasurers, the member for Fairfax [O’Brien] isn’t on it. The member for Fairfax is the only person considered incapable of retaining his spot as the deputy leader of the Liberal Party… but he should take some comfort from the fact that the last guy who failed as shadow treasurer [Angus Taylor] now considers himself entitled to a promotion.”
