Sussan Ley makes ‘enemies’ as part of shadow ministry reveal

Conservatives who voted for the Opposition Leader have expressed disappointment with her decision to demote many of their colleagues.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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Some Liberals are suggesting Sussan Ley has “made more enemies than she needed to” in unveiling Wednesday’s shadow ministry, while conservatives who voted for the Opposition Leader expressed disappointment with her decision to demote many of their colleagues.

Ms Ley on Thursday defended her elevation of several allies and the booting of those who voted against her leadership, declaring she had “absolutely not” made appointments based on “getting square”.

“Opposition is not about hierarchies. It’s not about structure. It’s about getting every player on the field, fighting the fight, because this is not about the internals,” she told the Nine Network.

“This is about how we go out there to work hard for the ­Australian people.”

The removal of senior moderate Jane Hume from the frontbench came as a shock to all Liberals who spoke to The Australian, with many having expected her to be given a more junior role after voting for Angus Taylor for leader rather than being totally booted.

“She sort of said she was going to take a step back last week,” one senior moderate said.

“But I don’t think she or we expected that that would mean not being in the ministry at all.”

Sources close to Senator Hume said the former opposition finance spokeswoman had worked closely with Ms Ley over the campaign, with her removal from the shadow ministry appearing “very personal” and “a total slap in the face”.

The decision to not give more senior roles to MPs like Zoe McKenzie, who is understood to have voted for Ms Ley, also raised eyebrows in the party, with many questioning whether some of the support Ms Ley had relied on to be elected leader was being justly rewarded.

“I think this has really firmed up some soft Angus (Taylor) supporters,” one Liberal MP said.

Another said “she’s gone and made more enemies than she needed to … We knew she’d pissed people off, we just weren’t expecting it to be this many.”

NT senator Jacinta Price. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Former Nationals senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who defected to the Liberals within days of the election, slammed some of Ms Ley’s decisions and described several appointments as not being “predicated on experience or merit”.

“I’m not going to lie and say that I’m not disappointed that I am not within cabinet itself,” she told Sky News on Wednesday night.

“But I did say when I decided to move to the Liberal party­room that as part of the ­Coalition, we needed to rebuild and I would be taking whatever position I’m in very seriously.”

Despite this, she said she did not regret her move to the Liberals, after having “made it clear this is something that I’d wanted to do when I was very first elected before my previous term”.

Senator Price was intending to run as deputy Liberal leader under Mr Taylor, but failed to put her hand up once it was clear the former energy minister would lose to Ms Ley.

She has now been relegated to the defence industry and defence personnel portfolios, serving under Mr Taylor, who was given the job of opposition defence spokesman.

Ms Ley also drew intense criticism from colleagues for comparing Senator Hume’s demotion to when she was removed from the ministry in 2017 after using a taxpayer-funded trip to buy a Gold Coast apartment, saying she had “similarly been through days like this”.

“She compared that time she had to resign for defrauding the taxpayer to this (demotion of Senator Hume)? Really?” one Liberal source said.

Senator Hume has been tight-lipped on her demotion, but is expected to speak in coming days over Ms Ley’s decision to exclude her from the ministry.

Allies of Ms Ley pointed to Senator Hume describing paid parental leave as “welfare” in the debate over whether to put super on PPL.

Liberal sources also hit out against Senator Hume for supporting Mr Taylor and urging other moderates to do so, despite conservative views on issues such as women’s reproductive health.

“So to be very clear when faced with backing the first woman to be Leader of the Liberal Party or a ticket that included someone who wants to basically ban abortions, Jane Hume back the latter. She is a fake moderate,” a Liberal source said.