Andrew Hastie exit key to Sussan Ley’s latest Coalition team ‘refresh’
Sussan Ley has used the departure of outspoken Liberal MP Andrew Hastie to make a raft of changes to her shadow ministry, in what is her second frontbench reshuffle in as many months.
Sussan Ley has used the departure of outspoken Liberal MP Andrew Hastie to make a raft of changes to her shadow ministry, in what is her second frontbench reshuffle in as many months.
Following Mr Hastie’s announcement that he would quit as opposition home affairs spokesman due to concerns that he was being gagged from speaking on other policy areas such as immigration, Ms Ley announced that conservative Liberal senator Jonathon Duniam would fill the vacancy.
“Senator Duniam, one of the Coalition’s most talented parliamentarians, will discharge his duties with the determination and work ethic they demand,” she said in a statement on Monday afternoon.
In taking the role, Senator Duniam thanked “good friend” and conservative colleague Mr Hastie for the work he had done in the portfolio.
“While this is a portfolio that covers complex policy areas, it requires commonsense solutions in the national interest,” he said. “Australians deserve to feel safe in their communities and confident that their government will uphold our national security, enforce the rule of law and do what’s right for our country and its citizens, invoking the latest concerns over Labor’s secrecy in the return of ISIS brides.”
Julian Leeser will be moved from his role as opposition legal affairs spokesman to taking carriage of education, having worked in the sector before coming to parliament.
“Education is nation-building. The choices we make today determine the Australia of tomorrow,” Mr Leeser said.
“Having previously worked in the university sector, and served on education boards, I bring practical experience to this position and will focus on evidence-based reforms that lift standards from early learning, through to schools and into tertiary education.”
The new-look frontbench is the third iteration of the shadow ministry since Ms Ley narrowly defeated Angus Taylor for the leadership, with some Liberal sources divided over whether she would be challenged before the end of the year.
While a handful of Liberal MPs said they believed Ms Ley would face a spill before Christmas, a greater number believed her leadership was safe for some time and cited the fact that she now had the “loyalty” many Liberal MPs endowed to their chosen leader.
“When she was last in a vote for leadership, there was no leader. It was empty. Now she is the incumbent and I think actually her margin would increase,” one senior Liberal source said.
Former barrister Andrew Wallace will fill Mr Leeser’s shoes as legal affairs spokesman, and Ms Ley described him as one of parliament’s “most considered legal thinkers”.
Mr Leeser described the new frontbench as a “refreshed team” that would be even more capable of holding the Labor government to account.
A number of junior MPs were also promoted, with Ms Ley appointing Aaron Violi to the role of assistant communications spokesman and Zoe McKenzie as shadow cabinet secretary.
Ms Ley also recommended Phil Thompson become deputy chair of the powerful Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security.
She said the changes to her shadow ministry would “strengthen Coalition efforts” to develop a credible policy platform that contrasted with Labor’s.
Her comments follow fierce debate within the Coalition over Mr Hastie’s launch of his own personal policy platform, well before the Liberal Party’s election review was completed.
While some conservative allies backed Mr Hastie’s intervention, which questioned the current level of immigration and why Australia no longer manufactured things domestically, other Liberal luminaries blasted the West Australian MP for engaging in “culture wars” and further alienating voters.
Mr Hastie’s exit followed Ms Ley removing firebrand senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the frontbench, after the former Nationals senator failed to back Ms Ley as Liberal leader.
Concern has been raised among Liberal ranks over the extra freedom Senator Nampijinpa Price and Mr Hastie now have to speak their minds, given they were no longer on the frontbench, and the role this would play in disrupting Liberal Party repair going forward.
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