Littleproud sees off challenger and Ley thinks she has the numbers

Sussan Ley’s camp is confident she has the numbers to become the first woman to lead the Liberal Party, but re-elected leader David Littleproud has refused to commit to the pact that binds the Coalition.

Littleproud fended off a challenge from right-wing senator Matt Canavan on Monday but stopped short of joining some colleagues in castigating Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for defecting to the Liberals, a move that blindsided the junior Coalition party last week.

Nationals deputy leader Kevin Hogan, Nationals leader David Littleproud and leader of the Nationals in the Senate, Bridget McKenzie.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

He described the move only as “disappointing” as Price prepares to run for the deputy Liberal leader position on Tuesday on a conservative ticket with frontbencher Angus Taylor against Ley, who has the support of the moderate faction.

“We had the courage to come with her [Price] on the No [on the Voice referendum]. We got her a [shadow cabinet] position. And what I want to see is a strong Liberal Party that can hopefully rebuild, because this is all for nothing unless we’re on the other side of the chamber,” Littleproud said after emerging victorious following a mediocre election result for the regional party.

Littleproud ducked questions on energy policy and did not commit to maintaining the Coalition agreement, saying all issues were up for debate.

“We’re going to review all our policies and we’ll do that in a calm, methodical way,” he said.

“The leader of the National Party doesn’t determine the policy direction of our party – the collective does.”

The ugly battle to become the next opposition leader escalated on Monday when ousted senator Hollie Hughes, a chief factional opponent of Taylor, suggested on Sky News that Taylor and his wife were plotting to knife Dutton before last Saturday’s election. She gave no evidence to back her remarks.

Hughes is a factional ally of Ley’s key backers and her incendiary comments forced Taylor to release a statement declaring Hughes’ claims were “false and frankly low”.

The senator also said Taylor had “insulted every woman in the Liberal parliamentary team” by poaching Price as his deputy and overlooking other women for the role.

Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor will tussle for the Liberal leadership on Tuesday after David Littleproud retained the leadership of the Nationals on Monday.

Newly re-elected Goldstein MP Tim Wilson tested support for a leadership tilt for the past two days but on Monday night declared he would not run after telling colleagues the contest was too early for him.

“I won’t be a candidate for leader tomorrow – it’s not my time ... but I will be giving all my energies to whoever wins, to replicate what we did in Goldstein across our party,” Wilson said on Facebook. “Now is the time to listen, support each other, rebuild and ultimately campaign on the economic issues that matter. That is our shared pathway to victory, and success for Australians.”

Both leadership aspirants held senior portfolios in Scott Morrison’s cabinet and Dutton’s shadow ministry. Ley, 63, is pitching herself as a centrist reformer and Taylor, 58, is highlighting his background as a McKinsey consultant, pledging to fight for conservative values alongside Price.

Neither Ley nor Taylor spoke publicly on Monday as they worked the phones. Ley’s supporters believed on Monday evening that they had won over a slim majority of the 54 party room members, including likely Ley supporters who have won tight election battles such as Mary Aldred in the Victorian seat of Monash, Gisele Kapterian in the Sydney seat of Bradfield and Wilson in Goldstein.

Energy spokesman Ted O’Brien will probably run as deputy against Price, and immigration spokesman Dan Tehan is a small chance to run as deputy.

The new Liberal leader will confront a diabolical set of policy challenges, including whether to retain the divisive nuclear energy pledge and its commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 – a point of division in the Nationals, some of whose MPs favour fossil fuels.

Littleproud still backs the nuclear plan, which he claimed credit for putting on the agenda. The Nationals lost a NSW Senate spot, failed to win back Calare in NSW and fell short in Bendigo in Victoria. But Littleproud argued the Nationals did not lose a lower house seat because Calare was held by Nationals defector Andrew Gee, so it was technically already held by an independent.

The results of the Nationals vote between Littleproud and Canavan in the 20-person party room were not disclosed to the media or MPs, as dictated by Nationals rules.

Frontbencher Kevin Hogan took over as deputy, and Bridget McKenzie will lead the party in the Senate.

McKenzie said the party needed to pay attention to public sentiment “with humility, understanding”.

“We need to respect their decision and we need to have a deep, honest look at what went wrong,” she said.

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