Angus Taylor on Whitlam, the Liberals, and his love for The Devil Wears Prada

Angus Taylor says he has “learnt a lot” in the six months since missing out on the Liberal leadership, while outlining the five big issues the party needs to take Labor to task on. Watch the High Steaks video.

Angus Taylor at Argyle House in Camden. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Believe it or not, Angus Taylor is a Meryl Streep superfan.

Minutes after sitting down with The Sunday Telegraph for lunch at Argyle House in Camden – in the heart of his electorate of Hume – Taylor lifts the lid on his love for cult-favourite chick flick The Devil Wears Prada.

“It’s one of my favourite movies”, he says.

“Obviously, amazing acting from Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. But, also, as a political junkie, I thought it was actually a better commentary on politics than almost any other movie I’ve seen, because of the fashion piece, and how fashions come and go, and how fashion houses drive them.

“And, of course, that happens in politics. And, sadly, sometimes we’re influenced by forces we don’t even know are at work.”

It’s an observation many might not expect from Taylor – who looks and sounds like what you’d get if you asked ChatGPT to generate a conservative politician from country NSW.

But his fondness for the film isn’t the only surprise in a near two-hour lunch at Argyle House, a recently-renovated bar and restaurant above Camden’s main drag.

The Limestone Coast rump is not only grain-fed, but treated to dark chocolate “for that extra-rich flavour”. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Another, as the proprietor tells us, is the Limestone Coast rump is not only grain-fed, but treated to dark chocolate “for that extra-rich flavour”.

It’s a detail which excites the Cooma-raised Taylor, who tells The Sunday Telegraph, without hesitating, he’d be in agriculture if he wasn’t in politics.

Speaking three days after the fiftieth anniversary of The Dismissal, Taylor identifies the Whitlam Government’s treatment of farmers as a formative political experience.

“I was very shaped by what happened in 1975. That was absolutely front and centre for our family and at the local school and everywhere. It was cathartic. At nine, I was seriously engaged with what was happening.

“We had a leader who was taking Australia in absolutely the wrong direction, and it was hurting farmers.”

Angus Taylor with his wife Louise on his farm in Gundary, outside of Goulburn. Picture: Hilary Wardhaugh

Angus Taylor with some of the sheep on his property. It was the Whitlam Government’s treatment of farmers that proved his formative political experience.

After a Tom Burlinson-esque gap year in the Snowy Mountains, Taylor talks glowingly about his “incredible time” at university, and campus antics with his now-wife, Louise.

“We had a lot in common, and we rolled the lefties at the Sydney University Law Society together.”

But Taylor, whose four children have all finished school, has fewer nice things to say about universities today.

“I think universities are not what they were”, he says.

“I think the focus on domestic students and educating Australians has been lost. I think the number of international students plays an important role, but the proportion in some of our universities has gone way too high.

“The politics of these universities has shifted hard left, which means the diversity of views that was there in the past is not there anymore. And I think that’s tragic for our country.”

The context of our conversation is impossible to ignore.

After the Liberal Party’s decision to dump its commitment to Net Zero – and a run of horror opinion polls for the Coalition since the May election – Taylor’s name, along with fellow conservative Andrew Hastie, is top of the list as a candidate to replace Sussan Ley as Opposition Leader.

While he wouldn’t be drawn on whether he still wants the top job, Taylor says he has “learnt a lot” in the six months since narrowly missing out on the Liberal leadership in a party room ballot against Ley.

“I’ve spent a lot of time talking to colleagues since then, and I think that’s always incredibly important, and I’ll continue to do that.

“Regardless of who leads, the agenda for me is clear and I’ll be putting my hand up to keep prosecuting that agenda.”

Taking part in the Australian Sports Foundation’s Pollie Dash Relay at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Being “sworn-in” by then Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove in 2016. Picture: AAP Image/Andrew Taylor

That agenda, according to Taylor, has to involve picking five big fights with Labor – on net zero, immigration, family policy, investment, and defence.

His language on “super high-quality” immigration and family policy is particularly pointed.

“Immigration is hugely important to this country … but the numbers have been ridiculously high. It’s got to be super high-quality immigration”, he says.

“Forming a family and raising kids is incredibly hard and I think Labor has focused on this area and we haven’t.”

Taylor is also calling for conservative female colleagues Jacinta Price, Sarah Henderson and Jess Collins, to be given bigger roles within the Coalition.

“We need every player on the field if we’re going to win.

“We’ve got to get people like [Price, Henderson, and Collins] on the field and playing.”

And, in a thinly-veiled swipe at current leadership, Taylor says there are “lessons” for the Liberals in the way the National Party arrived at its position on net zero.

“They have played an important leadership role with a really important contribution … there are lessons [for the Liberal Party], It’s important we lead on these crucial debates as well.

“It’s incredibly important that we be doing the work on these big, tough, important issues early and in a way that puts us in a position to lead the arguments.”