‘Resolute’ Sussan Ley digging in as sharks circle

Sussan Ley is digging in amid a growing expectation her leadership is terminal and divisions within the moderate faction over her future.

Sussan Ley on a visit to Emu Plains engineering business Marley Flow Control. Picture: NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

Sussan Ley is digging in amid a growing expectation her leadership is terminal, as top moderate Anne Ruston declares the Opposition Leader’s job is safe despite some members of her faction switching their support to ­Andrew Hastie.

Ms Ley said she had been “under­estimated a lot of my life” and noted she won a leadership ballot just six months ago, as conservative powerbrokers claim they have the numbers to install either Mr Hastie or Angus Taylor as Liberal leader.

While the numbers have shifted between Mr Hastie and Mr Taylor over the past month, ­sources say West Australian’s stocks have risen over the past week.

“I’m not here for a sense of ego about me,” Ms Ley told 2GB radio. “I’m here for Australians who are working hard, and I’m here for the disenfranchised Australians, the next generation, who are going to inherit, if we’re not careful, a lower standard of living than we do.”

After The Australian reported there were a growing number of moderates who had shifted their support from Ms Ley to Mr Hastie, Senator Ruston and NSW moderate Maria Kovacic said the “overwhelming majority” of the faction was strongly backing Ms Ley to remain leader.

The Australian understands Senator Ruston was calling moderates on Monday to rally support for the under-siege leader.

“This matter was resolved in the partyroom six months ago and Sussan will lead us strongly to the next election,” Senator Ruston and Senator Kovacic said in a joint statement.

Two senior moderates told The Australian on Sunday that a majority of MPs in the faction would vote for Mr Hastie against Ms Ley if a ballot were held this week, although other moderates claimed that this number was exaggerated.

One moderate MP conceded the faction had little in common with Mr Hastie’s populist agenda, but said “if he thinks he has got all the bright ideas, let him do it”.

Conservative MPs are confident there is majority support for a leadership change but do not want to mount a challenge until next year.

In a meeting that was mostly about energy policy in Canberra last week, moderates discussed what position the faction should take if Ms Ley were challenged for the leadership.

Members of the faction spoke about whether they should swing behind Mr Hastie or Mr Taylor in the event Ms Ley was forced out of the first round of a three-way battle. There was no resolved position, leaving some moderates to hold discussions in smaller groups about dropping their support for Ms Ley in favour of Mr Hastie.

One moderate MP said the tone in last week’s meeting was that it was “assumed” Ms Ley was unlikely to survive as leader.

A further erosion in support for Ms Ley from moderates could come if she gives too much ground to the Right on migration, despite Mr Taylor and Mr Hastie certain to have hardline immigration policies if they become leader.

Moderates are furious with the outcome of the climate policy unveiled by Ms Ley and opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan on Sunday, particularly about the potential for new coal-fired power stations to receive taxpayer support.

Mr Tehan on Monday said it was possible for coal generators to be underwritten by taxpayers under the Coalition’s policy, but it would be unlikely to happen, given the lack of private sector appetite to build one.

With Ms Ley in western Sydney selling her policy to ditch net zero, the Liberal leader said “we believe in affordable energy at the centre of our economy”.

“Australia has moved ahead with emissions reducing at almost twice the rate of the developed world, and in order to get to Labor’s 2050 target, they will have to double again, then that doesn’t make sense,” she said. “So our commitment is to reduce emissions on average, year on year, in line with comparable countries, and as fast and as far as technology will allow.”

When asked what evidence she could provide to prove the Coalition’s policy would put downward pressure on power prices, Ms Ley said the “critical thing here is that Labor’s policy is putting power prices up”.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said the Coalition’s policy appeared to be a “plan not to have a plan”.

“Business does need certainty,” he told the ABC. “If we’re going to get the investment in place for the future, we need to understand what is the policy, what’s the pathway as we go to towards the middle of the century

“On the one hand, the Coalition is saying it remains committed to the Paris Agreement; on the other, it seems to be casting very significant doubt on a number of the elements that are required if you’re going to comply with that agreement in terms of the targets 2030, 2035 and beyond and out to the second half of the century.”