Howard blasts ‘foolish’ comments, backs in Sussan Ley
Former prime minister John Howard is urging the Liberal Party to “get behind” Sussan Ley as political infighting threatens to end her leadership of the coalition.
On Friday the opposition leader was again forced to answer questions about his job, explaining he had “no comment on comments” after Liberal senator Sarah Henderson said Ms Ley had lost the party’s support.
Internal division over a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 and polls this week showing the coalition’s primary vote falling to a record low of 24 per cent have increased the pressure on Ms Ley.
Asked whether the Liberal leader would survive, Mr Howard said he believed he should survive.
“I haven’t been a member of parliament for almost 20 years – a long time – and the world has changed, but I think Sussan Ley should be given a chance,” he told AAP.
“And my request to my colleagues is to allow him to do this, to stand behind him.”
The former prime minister, who served four terms in the top job before losing the 2007 election to Labour’s Kevin Rudd, said maintaining a coalition with the National Party was “integral to success”.
Mr Howard said it was foolish to say the party was in the worst shape it had ever been.
“The Liberal Party is going through a bad patch, but it can recover if it focuses on policy and quickly establishes what it believes in and what it stands for, and then begins the task of arguing and persuading again,” he said.
“But he won’t do that if he spends all his time on internal squabbles.
“People who predicted the end did not understand the lessons of history.”
Ms Ley has been leader of the Liberals for nearly six months.
Alexander Downer assumed leadership of the party for the shortest period ever and held the post for eight months.
Anti-net zero Senator Henderson, who was removed from the shadow cabinet after the election, stopped short of backing the opposition leader on Friday.
“I think Susan has lost her support but I believe in miracles,” he told Sky News.
“We can turn things around, but things are not good. I don’t support things the way they are.”
The opposition leader’s two main rivals, Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie, have called for the net zero target to be abandoned.
Redbridge Group director and former Victorian Labor strategist Kos Samaras said the weak polling was a reflection of “a large number of conservative coalition MPs who have unleashed their policy ideas since they lost”.
“Sussan Ley has very, very little responsibility for what’s actually going on… The people who are criticizing her are actually the people who are causing the numbers to fall,” he said.
The Liberal Party’s stance on the key climate target will be determined following meetings in Canberra next week.
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