Liberal senator Hollie Hughes slams Angus Taylor for ‘putting ambition first’

Angus Taylor has rubbished claims by Liberal frontbencher Hollie Hughes that he ‘disrupted the team’ in endorsing a rival in a recent Senate preselection.

Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor. Picture: Martin Ollman

Opposition Treasury spokesman Angus Taylor has rubbished claims by Liberal frontbencher Hollie Hughes that he “disrupted the team” and put ambition before unity by endorsing a rival in a recent Senate preselection.

Senator Hughes launched the attack on Tuesday after losing a winnable spot on the Liberals’ Senate ticket to conservative-backed Jess Collins, a research ­fellow at the Lowy Institute for whom Mr Taylor wrote an endorsement and reference.

“This was a decision made by hundreds of grassroots members of the NSW Liberal Party,” Mr Taylor told The Australian, saying he looked forward to supporting all of the party’s candidates for the next federal election.

In May, Ms Collins came second to Andrew Bragg on the party’s NSW Senate ticket, beating sitting Senator Hughes in the third round of voting 191 votes to 167, in a relative upset.

Mr Taylor was one of many party figures to throw their backing behind Ms Collins, providing her with a written reference.

Ms Collins ran unsuccessfully earlier this year in the North Sydney preselection, for which Mr Taylor also gave her a reference – which he has done to other party colleagues over more than a decade in parliament.

Liberal senator Hollie Hughes. Picture: Martin Ollman

“My focus is on working with Peter Dutton and the Coalition team to present a real choice for struggling Australian families and small business owners who are being crushed by Labor’s cost of living crisis,” he said.

Speaking to Nine newspapers, Senator Hughes accused Mr Taylor of backing Ms Collins to boost his own friendly numbers in Canberra for a future leadership tilt.

“Peter Dutton has run a completely unified team,” Senator Hughes told The Sydney Morning Herald, pointing out the convention of sitting MPs backing incumbent colleagues in candidate selection contests.

“It beggars belief that a senior member would go against the leadership in a successful attempt to disrupt the shadow ministerial team,” she said.

“This is a message to colleagues that some people’s ambition is more focused on themselves rather than the betterment of the team.”

Senator Hughes was recently appointed as the Coalition’s assistant NDIS spokeswoman. She was elected to the Senate alongside Senator Bragg after they both beat a then-incumbent, the late Jim Molan, to the two winnable ticket positions in a late 2018 Liberal preselection.

During the May 26 preselection, Senator Bragg won 196 votes in the first round of voting in the party’s preferential system, followed by Ms Collins on 146, Senator Hughes on 145, and Lincoln Parker on 51.

Ms Collins won the third round of voting against Senator Hughes, 191 to 167.