Ley tells Liberal Party it can come back from ‘rock bottom’

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has assured her colleagues the Liberal Party can only improve on its disastrous showing at the May federal election as MPs insist they will give her a chance to establish herself as the party’s first female leader despite several of her supporters exiting parliament.

At a meeting of Liberal MPs in Canberra before the return of parliament on Tuesday, Ley said the Coalition was willing to work with the Albanese government on legislation but declared it would not bow to calls to “just get out of the way” and wave through Labor’s legislation.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told Liberal MPs the party could “only go up from here” after its disastrous election result.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Multiple Liberal MPs said that Ley’s private remarks to the party room included words to the effect of “we’ve hit rock bottom and can only go up from here”, while others said she told her colleagues the party was at the “bottom of the mountain” and would begin to restore its standing with voters.

Underlining the divide within the party between conservatives and moderates, three of the Liberal MPs who voted for Ley in her narrow 29-25 leadership victory over Angus Taylor have since resigned or failed to win a spot in parliament.

Despite Ley’s seemingly tenuous grip on the leadership, one Liberal MP who voted for Taylor said: “It would be electoral suicide for us to knife our first female leader because the numbers have tightened. No one is close to talking about doing that.”

The MP, who asked for anonymity to speak about internal party matters, said: “Angus’ inner sanctum believes she needs to fail on her terms for him to ever come back. She’ll be given time.”

Another Taylor backer said: “There are some aggrieved parties, but regardless of how the hypothetical numbers would be now, it would be insanity for anyone to challenge her. Angus is not agitating. She will sink or swim on her own merits.”

The Liberal Party has 28 MPs in the new parliament, down from 39 in the Albanese government’s first term, after its crushing election defeat.

Senators Hollie Hughes and Linda Reynolds, who both voted for Ley, left the Senate at the end of June and Liberal Bradfield candidate Gisele Kapterian, who was allowed to vote for Ley in the leadership ballot because she was initially seen as the favourite to win the seat, lost to a teal. Kapterian has asked the High Court to overturn the result.

Former Liberal senator David Fawcett, whose term also ended in June, is believed to have voted for Taylor.

Ley’s supporters noted the latest Resolve Political Monitor poll, published by this masthead on Sunday, showed her with a net positive rating of 11, the highest likeability rating of any MP or party.

One Ley backer argued that Taylor had hardly “covered himself in glory” after the opposition defence spokesman said the US and Australia should make “a joint commitment to the security of Taiwan”, forcing him to clarify that the Coalition had not locked itself into supporting Australian involvement in any war over the self-governing island.

The pair had clashed over the issue of quotas for female Liberal candidates, Taylor slamming the idea and Ley expressing openness to it.

Another MP said the mood in the opposition was “low energy” and there was some disgruntlement about Ley’s choices for shadow frontbench roles.

In public remarks to the party room, Ley said: “Our job is to represent the millions of Australians who voted for us and the millions who maybe did not but still expect us to be the strongest and best opposition that we can be, and we will be.”

Referring to an interview Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gave to this masthead and others following his trip to China, Ley said: “He’s been giving interviews and suggesting we should just get out of the way. Well, we won’t just get out of the way.”

She vowed to oppose moves by Treasurer Jim Chalmers to raise taxes, saying: “I haven’t met a single Australian who wants to pay more tax, who thinks they’re paying not enough tax.”

In remarks to the Labor caucus, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared that 2025 would be “our year of delivery” and implored MPs to show the same level of discipline as during the previous term.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese enters the Labor caucus meeting on Monday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“And those opposite will have to decide whether they’ll continue the course that they set last term, which essentially was a cul de sac,” he said. “It didn’t lead anywhere at all, just saying no and not being constructive.”

Insisting that Labor could increase its thumping parliamentary majority, Albanese said: “There is no reason why every single one of you can’t just be returned to the next parliament, but can’t be added to as well. But we know that each and every day we must work hard to repay the faith that has been shown in us.”

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