Conservative MPs say Sussan Ley’s leadership safe until Christmas, senior moderates shut down spill rumour
Sussan Ley’s leadership will likely survive the killing season, after senior moderates were flung into damage control following rumours that colleagues were willing to support Andrew Hastie.
Sussan Ley is expected to survive the final sitting week, notoriously dubbed as the killing season, with conservative Liberals opting to give her a “fair go” after a messy and protracted battle to dump net zero.
Despite rumblings of a leadership spill from the Opposition Leader’s own moderate faction, one conservative MP “categorically” ruled out a challenge this calendar year, adding that if “one of the mods do something dumb next week, we will vote against it”.
They also acknowledged appetite for a coup was low, given the faction’s “thumping win” after it pushed the party to ditch net zero.
“Sussan was elected to have a fair go. Now we all think she’s doing a sub-optimal job, but she needs that fair go,” they said.
“It’s categorically not on the agenda for the Conservatives in the party. We are resolute that on Christmas Day, Sussan Ley will be the leader of the Liberal Party.”
Another Liberal source said a spill was unlikely until at least the new year, with the next leader set to inherit the same problems plaguing Ms Ley.
“What does blowing it up now actually achieve?” they said.
The prevailing view was that given the Coalition has finalised its position to jettison emissions reduction targets and focus on energy affordability, Ms Ley would be judged by the performance of future Newspoll results.
However a moderate MP said leader aspirants Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie were still poised for an eventual spill and “it was just a question of when”.
“I think they’ll go in the new year, probably in the first week of parliament,” they said, noting that the next leader would need to “sort out their mess” before going into an election campaign in 2027 or 2028.
“I think they’re scared that they’ll be accused of taking out a woman. I think they’ll wear that anyway. Whoever wins will have that blood on their hands”.
Senior moderates Anne Ruston and Maria Kovacic have also intervened to quash reports that factional colleagues were looking to back Mr Hastie in the event of a challenge.
In a joint statement the senators said “Sussan will lead us strongly to the next election”.
Ms Ruston, who is the Liberal’s deputy Senate leader, later told Sky that she had “spoken to a lot of my colleagues this morning” and that the “overwhelming number of the moderates, or the people who would consider themselves on the more progressive side of the party, back the leader”.
Donning on the hi-vis and hitting the tools, Ms Ley hammered home the Coalition’s promise to bring down energy prices by any means necessary, including extending the life of coal power plants, however she appeared to struggle to drill in a screw.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to a Western Sydney engineer company, she dismissed leaked polling which showed state NSW Liberal MPs would be at risk of losing their seats without a credible climate policy. The numbers also put the state Liberals on a collision path with their federal counterparts.
“I’m not interested in polling and I’m not interested in public commentary about polling. What I’m interested in is this plan,” she said.
Originally published as Conservative MPs say Sussan Ley’s leadership safe until Christmas, senior moderates shut down spill rumour
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