Sussan Ley’s leadership, Liberal Party direction slammed by Sarah Henderson
“I think it’s a good thing that Susan Ley has brought this issue to a head, that we can resolve the issues between the Coalition’s position.”
Liberal MP Dan Tehan, who is leading the Liberals’ energy policy review, “absolutely” supports the opposition’s modus operandi under Sussan Ley.
Asked in an interview with Sky News on Friday morning whether Sussan Ley had lost support within the party, Tehan did not immediately answer the question, saying the party was focusing on developing policy.
“This process has always been about getting our policy development right. Sussan rightly identified at the end, long after the last election, that we need to get better at policy development and make sure we can deliver policies that will resonate with the Australian people at the next election,” he said.
When asked if he would return “the way things are right now”, Tehan said he did.
“Look, absolutely,” he said. “We’ve started a process to make sure our policies are correct.”
Tehan was also criticized by his party colleagues for lengthy negotiations on energy policy, which left the party without an established position after the National Party decided to abandon its “net zero” target.
Ley supervised record low voting and made a number of political attacks, including an appeal, that did not pan out. Kevin Rudd to resign as US ambassadorand a request Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has apologized for wearing a Joy Division t-shirt that was widely mocked.
Opposition defense spokesman Taylor and former home affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie are seen as frontrunners in a potential leadership leak. Henderson declined to comment on whether either man would be better suited to the role.
Stopped by reporters as she entered an event in Canberra on Friday morning, Taylor denied intending to challenge the leadership and said: “I think Sussan is well established as leader and will take us to the next election.”
Party sources said other senior right-wingers also stood behind Ley and did not want to create a leadership leak this year.
Henderson said he was not calling for Ley to be removed as leader, but said: “He is losing support because of what has happened since he became leader and we are all working hard to get our party back on track.”
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“I can’t sit here and pretend everything is fine. That’s OK. And the Australians want us to be better than we are now, we need to be a highly effective opposition,” he said.
Asked if he was “completely confident” that Ley would remain in his role until the end of the year, Henderson told reporters: “I can’t speak for Susan. All I can tell you frankly and honestly is that I don’t support the way things are going at the moment.”
Henderson later expressed doubts about whether Ley would be the man to turn the party’s fortunes around.
“I think a lot of my colleagues are quite concerned about the way things are going,” he said.
“There’s a growing concern in our party about the direction we’re going to take… I mean, the infighting has been very bad and I’m very sorry about what’s going on in the Liberal Party.
“I have been an MP since 2013. It was the worst incident I have seen in our party and I have also seen a few dramas.”
Henderson served as opposition communications and education spokesman during Peter Dutton’s tenure as opposition leader. When Ley became opposition leader, he was expelled from the front row.
