Andrew Hastie rejects Angus Taylor’s deputy offer
Liberal leadership candidate Andrew Hastie has rejected Angus Taylor’s offer to run as his deputy on the united conservative ticket to unseat Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.
In a previously unreported phone call, lawmakers spoke on Thursday while Taylor had been in Europe for weeks and Hastie was in Perth, according to three sources familiar with the discussion but not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
According to a supporter of Hastie and another right-wing neutral, Taylor claimed that Hastie could eventually take over the leadership if he served as Taylor’s deputy for a period, although the timing was unclear.
However, the suggestion was ignored and Hastie made it clear that he had been encouraged to run as a candidate by a group of right-wing MPs and that he would only back out if his colleagues actively dissuaded him from this decision (which they did not).
While Hastie declined to comment on the call when asked by this imprint, Taylor and his office have been contacted for comment. A source close to Taylor said they were unable to confirm that the discussion regarding her assistant role had taken place and were downplaying the issue.
Hastie’s supporters believe he has clear majority support on the right, but Taylor is gaining more support among moderates who, if forced to choose, would choose him over the more hard-line candidate in Hastie.
The two will meet again in the coming days to try to resolve the impasse, which benefits Ley and points to the possibility that he could remain in office in a weakened position for a while until the right-wing side reaches an agreement. Taylor still had not returned to Australia on Saturday afternoon, making it difficult for him to take part in the manoeuvres.
The problem for both candidates is that many moderates, non-aligned centrists and even some right-wingers believe Ley, severely weakened after the historic rupture in the Coalition, made the right moves heading into Nationals last week.
That coalition split Ley’s allies believe the rebels misjudged the mobilizing effect of National Leader David Littleproud’s rash actions.
The under-pressured opposition leader has spent the last 48 hours talking to colleagues; one of them told this imprint that he expressed calmness and confidence about the leadership situation, which they felt was exaggerated by the troublemakers.
“There is no sense of concern, quite the opposite,” one ally said.
The Liberal leader, whose strategy to attack Labor over its response to the Bondi massacre exploded in his face last week, speaks multiple times a day to former prime minister John Howard as he advises him about the crisis with the National Party.
Ley does not plan to reshuffle his shadow ministry to install Liberals in positions vacated by the National Party until Littleproud announces his unofficial “shadow, shadow cabinet” next week.
Ley’s delay is underpinned by an intention to keep chances of reconciliation alive as the Nationals, including deputy leader Kevin Hogan, Michael McCormack, Susan McDonald, Darren Chester and others, continue to cautiously talk to the Liberals about an unlikely reunification.
Citizens who want to keep the coalition alive do not want to oust Littleproud, which for many aggrieved Liberals would be a condition of reunification.
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Paul Sakkal is the chief political correspondent. It has previously covered Victorian politics and won the Walkley and Quill awards. Reach him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14Connect with: excitement or email.
