Opposition leader seeks John Howard’s advice amid One Nation’s rise

Hastie’s team has moved proactively to temper expectations of a tough test this year, but the atmosphere in the party hall is fiery and the chances of a leadership clash in next week’s final parliamentary sessions of the year are slim.

Ley’s allies privately admit that Ley probably needs to improve in the polls by after his budget response speech in May before he is ousted. a new Australian Financial Review/Redbridge survey It shows One Nation gaining 18 per cent of the primary vote, trailing the Coalition on 24 per cent.

Hanson’s rise has been fueled by sharpening attitudes on immigration, prompting Ley to seek advice from Howard, according to sources and MPs familiar with the pair’s interactions on condition of anonymity.

Like Howard did when Hanson burst onto the scene in the late 1990s, Ley plans to push back on Hanson’s racist tone and bring a hard-line approach to the core of his message over the summer.

Senior MPs said they hoped they could win back around half of voters who have shifted to Hanson this term by campaigning against immigration and net zero. The strategy risks imploding if Foreign Secretary Penny Wong is proven right after she told the Coalition on Sunday: “You couldn’t be more Pauline than Pauline.”

Asked Monday how he would manage to reduce immigration levels without isolating or disrupting groups of voters, Ley said he would do so by “always reminding our wonderful immigrant communities of the value they bring to this country.”

“I have my own immigrant story. I deeply admire the communities and individuals who choose to come to Australia, build their homes, start their families, build their futures, work hard, take risks and give back,” he said on Nine’s channel. Today to show.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull criticized the party he once led on Monday Afternoon ABC, saying: “It’s out of touch with reality. It’s out of touch with the majority of the electorate and there’s absolutely no way to win in government.”

He added that he felt sorry for Ley, saying “she’s in a fish tank consisting of goldfish that have no memory, that forget everything that they’ve done the last time around”.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price welcomed the decision on Monday, saying in a social media post that “it’s time for the Liberals to stop pandering to sectional interests like elite metropolitan universities and big business lobbies.”

He said this should include significant cuts to certain parts of the immigration program, even if it requires a temporary freeze on certain classes of visas.

Hastie said last Friday that immigration “will be the next debate.”

Kovacic warned against an immigration policy that is too harsh on newcomers, saying in this byline: “Skilled and balanced immigration is vital to our economy, but also remembers that many of today’s most successful Australians started as workers, refugees or families starting from scratch.”

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Given that Price and Hastie have upset diaspora groups in recent months, Ley’s biggest challenge in this area will be to avoid alienating voters from multicultural and immigrant backgrounds.

Net migration to Australia increased following the reopening of borders following the pandemic, and while immigration levels have fallen significantly, they remain above pre-pandemic levels.

Repeated polls show voters are increasingly concerned about the pace of migration to Australia; but the Coalition failed to capitalize on this during the May election, despite Peter Dutton promising to reduce net migration by 100,000 people a year more than Labor.

Ley said on Monday that immigration spokesman Paul Scarr and home affairs spokesman Jonno Duniam were working on a policy that would reduce immigration but were not yet working on details about which visa classes or immigration flows should be cut.

“We will work out the details of the different flows.”

a report Australian The claim that the moderates had shifted their support from Ley to Hastie was denied by Kovacic and Ruston, who said all the MPs he spoke to supported Ley. However, it is known that if Ley falls, at least two Central Party MPs will prefer Hastie to Taylor.

Hastie’s allies, who asked to remain anonymous, said the former soldier did not plan to challenge Ley in the final session week of the year. He is about to undergo shoulder surgery due to a ju-jitsu injury.

One MP said: “Andrew is of course interested in this but he is not ready yet. We also need a programme, a plan we can talk about.”

Frontrunner Angus Taylor is also a contender for the leadership, but there is no consensus on the Right as to which candidate should take over from Ley.

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