Sussan Ley won’t defend frontbenchers after Hughes’ scathing attack

Sussan Ley has defended the former Liberal senator who accused the opposition leader’s internal rivals of being inept and undermining her since she won the position in a party ballot in May.

Ley did not contradict Hollie Hughes’ claims of sabotage from within when asked, and instead spoke fondly of the former senator, who told 2GB on Tuesday she quit the party in protest over Ley’s treatment.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is on her second media blitz of the week. Credit: Edwina Pickles

“Hollie is a dear friend, I’ve known her for 25 years. We were passionate, rural liberals. We still are, and the work that she’s done in children [issues], in families and for communities – we’ll miss her in the parliament,” Ley told Today.

Hughes on Tuesday told this masthead: “It’s clear that Sussan has been undermined from day one. And the people who are doing it are the people I spent six years in the party room with. I want the freedom to be able to speak about their capacity, or lack thereof, without being restricted by party rules.”

Today host Karl Stefanovic asked Ley on Wednesday whether it was true, as Hughes claimed, that Ley’s leadership rivals Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor weren’t across their briefs.

“I’m going to leave the commentary to others,” Ley said.

“Her statement clearly speaks to the warmth of our friendship, but she can make her comments, and others will, and you will ask the questions and commentators will reflect,” she said.

Hughes told Radio National that “Quite frankly, Jacinta [Nampijinpa Price] and Sarah [Henderson], I think, are being used by the two men who want to push forward with a challenge, but don’t have the gumption to do it.”

Price, who defected from the Nationals to run as Angus Taylor’s deputy in the leadership ballot against Ley in May before pulling out, hit back at Hughes on Wednesday.

“It’s pretty disappointing to hear that sort of commentary,” Price told 2GB. “I suppose it’s always been the argument by raging lefties that I can’t think for myself, that I have to be used by others.

Anti-net zero Liberals Sarah Henderson (centre) and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (right) led like-minded colleagues into the party room.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“She’s clearly bitter, and that’s her issue to deal with herself.”

Hughes, who represented NSW in the Senate from 2019 until the middle of this year for the Centre-Right that also counts Ley as a member, has been a long-time factional opponent of Taylor and lost her Senate spot to one of his allies.

As Ley continued her second media blitz this week to spruik her energy policy – with 10 scheduled appearances across TV and radio on Wednesday – South Australian Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan vowed to continue promoting net zero even after his party scrapped the target entirely.

Asked on The Conversation podcast Politics with Michelle Grattan if Ley could sell the new policy to the electorate, McLachlan said he was “dubious”.

“Modern Australia wants a strong commitment to not only restoring nature, but protecting it, and that includes reducing emissions,” he said.

Describing the policy endorsed by both parties of the Coalition as “carefree with emissions”, McLachlan rejected the inclusion of coal in the mix.

“I don’t believe that coal should be in the medium to long term a part of the equation,” he said.

“I think that we need to stay on the road to a renewables future. Now I’m not naive. We are in transition, and it will be in fits and starts, and I think that gas is a transition fuel, but our ambition for our country should be to retreat from fossil fuels as soon as we can, without leaving anyone in poverty.”

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