Gladys Berejiklian backs Sussan Ley to make Liberals a political force again

Australia’s first female Liberal premier Gladys Berejiklian has endorsed Sussan Ley to succeed Peter Dutton as Liberal leader and ‘bring the party back to the centre’.

Former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian has backed Sussan Ley for the federal Liberal leadership. Picture: Jane Dempster

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Australia’s first female Liberal premier Gladys Berejiklian has endorsed Sussan Ley to succeed Peter Dutton as Liberal leader and “bring the party back to the centre”, as Ms Ley and Angus Taylor on Friday announced they would run for the post.

The Australian can reveal that Ms Berejiklian – the first elected female premier in NSW – is strongly backing Ms Ley for the top job amid a close contest ­between the Acting Opposition Leader and the Treasury ­spokesman.

Ms Berejiklian’s intervention comes as Ms Ley and Mr Taylor prepare to lobby colleagues over the weekend ahead of a vote on Tuesday to elect a new leader and deputy leader. Amid the jostling, senior Liberal frontbencher Sarah Henderson accused the party’s campaign machine and Mr Dutton’s office of spiking a fully costed and comprehensive schools policy prior to the election, which would have outflanked Labor on a key battleground issue.

The opposition education spokeswoman revealed the ­policy, which included fast-tracking explicit instruction, a rapid review of the national curriculum, more funding for student wellbeing and initiatives to attract and train new teachers including specialists in maths, was mysteriously dumped.

The Australian understands Coalition campaign headquarters blocked the announcements out of fear they would distract from the core campaign themes of cost-of-living and economic management.

Amid ongoing recriminations following last Saturday’s devastating election defeat, Ms Berejiklian has joined other prominent Liberals including Jeff Kennett, Nick Greiner, Shane Stone and Barry O’Farrell in endorsing Ms Ley to woo back women voters, unite the party room and shift the party back to the centre.

Confidants of Ms Berejiklian, who described her as a centrist leader supported by both moderates and conservatives, said the former premier believed Ms Ley was “the only candidate who can bring the party back to the centre”.

Ms Berejiklian, a moderate who led NSW from 2017 to 2021 and is now a senior executive at Optus, was prominent during the campaign of Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian in the northern Sydney electorate of Bradfield. Ms Kapterian, who is seeking to replace Paul Fletcher in the previously safe Liberal seat heavily targeted by Climate 200, holds a 237-vote lead over teal candidate Nicolette Boele.

Sussan Ley. Picture: Richard Dobson / Newswire

Angus Taylor. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Supporters of Ms Ley on Friday acknowledged the vote could go either way and claimed no frontbench positions had been offered. Liberal MPs backing Ms Ley claimed Mr Taylor’s decision to recruit Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from the Nationals could help swing floating MPs and senators to their camp ahead of Tuesday.

Supporters of Mr Taylor said endorsements for Ms Ley had been from “figures who have never had a vote in the federal parliament”.

In the wake of the heavy election loss, Senator Henderson said she would have preferred to have released the Coalition’s education policy during the campaign because “what we put forward supports not only students but hardworking principals and teachers”.

“The policy work was done – and the Coalition now has a strong foundation in the new term to not only to hold Labor to account, but to push for a world-class education system which supports our children rather than fails them,” Senator Henderson said.

“The key now is to build on the Coalition’s strong plan over the next three years.”

Senator Henderson’s frustrations are widely shared among senior Coalition frontbenchers who have privately taken aim at the role of former South Australian Liberal Party director Alex May, who was appointed as head of policy and campaigns in Mr Dutton’s office late last year.

Several Liberal MPs said there had been a breakdown of policy development and timing of announcements, which were critical to the failure of the campaign. Some described dysfunction around the release of the Coalition’s first home buyer mortgage deductibility scheme, which sat idle in the leader’s office until 48 hours before the Liberal Party campaign launch.

In his pitch for leadership on Friday, Mr Taylor said “we must unify our party, rebuild its foundations and take-up the fight to Labor”. The 58-year-old committed to recruiting new talent and more women to better reflect modern Australia.

“Our party is at a crossroads. After the result on Saturday, we owe it to our members, our supporters, and the millions of Australians who believe in our cause to regroup, rebuild, and get back in the fight,” Mr Taylor said. “We must restore the party around the values that make us strong: sound economic management and personal responsibility; national security; aspiration and reward for effort; and a vibrant private sector that creates jobs and opportunity.”

Ms Ley, 63, said: “It is clear that we got it wrong, and that Australia expects a change in direction and a fresh approach from the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party needs to listen to the Australian people and meet them where they are. We need to understand their aspirations. We need to build a new economic narrative. We need new policy offerings that show Australians we can help them and their families get ahead.

“We need to listen and we need to change … Many Australians, including women and younger Australians, feel neglected by the Liberal Party.”

Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan, who fended off a Climate 200 campaign in his seat of Wannon, said he would not stand for a leadership position.