Sussan Ley to unveil shadow cabinet this week with a few surprises

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is expected to sign off on a new-look Coalition frontbench this week that will reward moderate backers while keeping senior conservative MPs in prominent roles.

Liberal MPs named key moderates including former cabinet minister Melissa Price, presumptive Goldstein MP Tim Wilson, shadow minister Angie Bell, shadow assistant minister Andrew Bragg and Victorian backbencher MP Zoe McKenzie as likely candidates for promotion. Former Morrison government cabinet minister Alex Hawke, a key ally of Ley, was also expected to be rewarded.

In a move designed to ensure supporters of former leader Peter Dutton and other senior conservatives are not seen to be punished for backing Angus Taylor in a leadership contest, Taylor, Dan Tehan and James Paterson are all expected to retain senior roles, according to colleagues. They expect the trio to be handed the Defence, Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs portfolios respectively, but their appointments have not been finalised.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley during a press conference on Tuesday.Credit: AAP

This masthead gathered the insights about frontbench appointments during discussions on Sunday with seven Liberal MPs who asked to remain anonymous to discuss confidential deliberations.

The jostling for shadow cabinet roles follows an extraordinary week in which the Liberal and National parties announced they would split following the country party’s demand that four key policies be retained and a demand to end shadow cabinet solidarity. But after the public break-up, on Sunday morning Nationals leader David Littleproud predicted a new agreement would be reached in the “coming couple of days”.

A senior Liberal MP, who asked not to be named, said there was an expectation Ley would “keep things fair and balanced” between competing factions of the Coalition.

Outspoken Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who defected from the Nationals to the Liberal Party following the election, could stay on the frontbench but not in charge of government efficiency, a cause she championed during the election campaign.

“Jacinta will get something but it can’t be Trump-based or linked,” one MP said, “we will move away from this ‘DOGE’ stuff, that was not well received by the party or the public.”

Victorian Liberal Sarah Henderson and South Australian Liberal Tony Pasin could both be demoted, according to colleagues.

Deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien is tipped to take the shadow treasury portfolio; Health and Legal Affairs spokeswomen Anne Ruston and Michaelia Cash will stay in shadow cabinet but they could switch portfolios; and Andrew Hastie has made clear he wants to move from Defence to either an economic or a social policy position.

Victoria and Tasmania could lose a post in the shadow ministry after the loss of further seats in those states, which has left Queensland in a strengthened position to ask for more portfolios because of its relatively high number of MPs.

The Nationals are still pushing for a reset of which portfolios their party receives. The junior Coalition partner is said to want an economic portfolio such as Industry, potentially in exchange for the Resources portfolio.

The Nationals’ initial, publicly stated reasons for the split were Ley’s unwillingness to immediately sign up to retaining four non-negotiable policies – support for nuclear power, laws that could force supermarket divestiture, improved regional mobile phone coverage and a billion-dollar regional fund – which the Liberals have now backed in principle.

Ley returned to the negotiating table once Littleproud dropped the demand for an end to shadow cabinet solidarity, amid suggestions former Nationals leader Michael McCormack could challenge Littleproud for the Nationals leadership. Littleproud survived a challenge from Queensland senator Matt Canavan last week and on Sunday deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan said Littleproud should “absolutely” remain as leader.

He also played down the prospect of further ructions within the Coalition over Australia’s commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050, a policy position some Nationals such as former leader Barnaby Joyce and Canavan have publicly questioned.

The questions over net zero had been “settled years ago”, Hogan said. “The policy is as is. The policy is as we took to the election.”

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