‘Can’t keep being negative’: ex-leader lashes Ley, Libs
As the party struggles with infighting and demoralizing polls, Sussan Ley has been attacked by a former Liberal leader for her lack of strategy and leadership.
The opposition leader has been accused of failing to articulate a path forward for the Liberals as they approach a final position on energy and climate change policies.
After two weeks of damaging infighting and wild leadership speculation, Ms Ley has called a series of party room meetings to hammer out a new approach to reducing energy and emissions.
As the party prepares to negotiate its final policy, former Liberal leader John Hewson has made a shocking assessment of Ms Ley and the party she leads.
“He has not demonstrated a clear strategy or strong capacity in terms of leadership,” he told AAP.
Mr Hewson, who allowed his membership to expire in 2019 over concerns about the party’s record on climate change, said the opposition lacked serious policies because its members had little experience outside politics.
“They don’t have people with significant business experience… I don’t think they have people who care about policy in economic policy,” he said.
“You can’t continue to be negative and hope to win from criticism like (Tony) Abbott did.”
As opposition leader, Mr Hewson promised highly detailed economic reform at the 1993 federal election; but the coalition lost outright to the Labor government of Paul Keating.
“I would really like Susan to run in a fair race with everyone participating and doing proper policy work,” he said.
Mr Hewson was also highly critical of Western Australian MP Andrew Hastie, who is widely considered a potential leadership candidate.
“He’s been sold out a bit by the right side of the party,” the former Liberal leader said, arguing that Mr Hastie’s criticism of Australia’s immigration program was unlikely to be popular with the wider electorate.
Mr Hastie is a vocal critic of Australia’s climate targets; It’s an issue on which liberals are one step closer to resolving their differences.
After weeks of infighting, party room meetings have been called for next week to finalize the coalition’s energy and emissions reduction policies.
Liberal members will debate energy and emissions reduction policies in the party room on Wednesday.
Shadow ministers will meet the next day to formalize their positions.
But even if the Liberals come up with a coherent plan amid fierce internal divisions, they will still need to reach a deal with the National Party.
A six-person committee, made up of three Liberals and three Nationals, will try to reach a consensus on the issue before both party chambers connect online on November 16.
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