Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley has confirmed she will vie for the party’s top job, as another frontrunner pulls out and a rift emerges over the defection of a senator.
It comes as faces criticism from Labor luminary Paul Keating over his reported cabinet reshuffle.
The Liberal Party confirmed on Thursday night it would vote for on Tuesday.
Ley, along with Opposition immigration spokesperson Dan Tehan and treasury spokesperson Angus Taylor, had been named as key contenders for the Liberal Party’s leadership after the Coalition was defeated at Saturday’s federal election and left without a leader after .
“On the weekend, we suffered a significant election defeat,” Ley told the Seven network’s Sunrise program on Friday.
“And since then, I have been having many conversations with my colleagues, members of the community, with members of the party, indeed the Coalition, with everyday Australians.
“So, on Tuesday morning when the Liberal party room meets in Canberra, I will be putting myself forward for the position of leader of the federal party.”
Former Opposition leader Peter Dutton lost his seat at Saturday’s federal election. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
Ley said: “We do need to reflect a modern Liberal Party”, adding she wants “to harness all of the talent in my team”.
In a statement on Friday, Tehan said the Liberals needed to take “an honest look at the 2025 election, our history and the future”.
“The Australian people want a Liberal Party that speaks to their lives, their families and their hopes for the future,” he said.
“They want small business and farmers to thrive. We must create a political movement that can provide that vision.”
But he said, after “careful consideration” and conversations with his colleagues, he would not seek the party’s leadership.
“I will work hard and serve in whatever capacity I am asked to rebuild our party,” he said.
Jacinta Price criticised for party room defection
Meanwhile, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has criticised Opposition Indigenous Australians spokesperson Jacinta Nampijinpa Price over her decision to defect from the Nationals party room to that of the Liberals.
As a Country Liberal Party senator from the Northern Territory, Price can choose to sit in either party room but conservative federal parliamentarians from the Top End have historically sided with the Nationals.
“Loyalty is a rare commodity in politics but it’s an essential one, and out in the bush, it’s worth everything,” McKenzie said.
“I was disappointed, [but] ultimately that’s a decision for Senator Nampijinpa Price to resign from our room.”
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said she was “disappointed” Jacinta Nampijinpa Price had decided to defect from the Nationals party room to that of the Liberals. Source: AAP / Mick Tsikas
Queensland MP Michelle Landry branded it disloyal.
“We’re all very upset that she’s decided to move over to the Liberals and I just think that there’s a lack of loyalty there,” she told ABC radio.
It has been reported that Price is making the move to run as deputy leader on a ticket with Taylor.
Speaking to Sydney’s 2GB radio on Friday, she did not confirm her leadership bid but defended her party room move, saying she had discussed it with colleagues.
“I wanted to do it in a respectful way,” Price said.
“So I did speak to my colleagues. I even spoke to Sussan Ley as well. So there are many that I had spoken to into the lead-up to this being announced.
“The decision I have chosen, which is something I can do as part of the Country Liberal party, is which party room I sit in in federal parliament, to be quite honest, it is something that I wanted to do from the first time I was elected.”
In a statement on Friday, Taylor confirmed he would seek party leadership, saying the Liberals were “at a crossroads”.
“After the result on Saturday, we owe it to our members, our supporters, and the millions of Australians who believe in our case to regroup, rebuild, and get back in the fight,” he said.
“We must unify our party, rebuild its foundations and take up the fight to Labor.”
Earlier, he told told the Australian Financial Review that Price was an “extraordinary addition” to the team but did not confirm if she would run on a a ticket with him.
The Nationals need to find a new deputy leader, with Perin Davey set to lose her NSW Senate spot.
Nationals MPs will hold a caucus meeting in Canberra on Monday.
Anthony Albanese’s cabinet reshuffle
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Industry Minister Ed Husic have been pushed out of Albanese’s new cabinet as Labor Party factional leaders reshuffle ministry positions.
In a statement, former prime minister Keating described the decision as “appalling” and said it showed “a diminished respect for the contribution of others”.
He added that ousting Husic, who is the cabinet’s sole Muslim member, signalled “contempt for the measured and centrist support provided by the broader Muslim community to the Labor Party at the general election”.
Dreyfus is set to be replaced by Sam Rae, a key ally of deputy prime minister Richard Marles.
Husic was reportedly axed to help rebalance the ledger between Victoria and NSW.
Labor’s ministry and cabinet are carved up between the states and the left and right factions, based on their proportion of seats.
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has criticised Anthony Albanese’s cabinet reshuffle. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi
The more progressive left, from which has edged ahead of the right after the election, with more of its candidates winning seats.
But the ministry quota system has sparked an internal fight between Victorians and their NSW counterparts as the former want an extra seat at the table.
New blood in the ministry will likely include Tim Ayres from NSW, as well as Ged Kearney and Daniel Mulino from Victoria.
Labor will hold its first caucus on Friday, and the new-look cabinet is expected to be sworn in on Tuesday.
Albanese says Labor must approach its second term with humility and solidarity.
“No individual is greater than the collective, and that includes myself,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
“When you’re focused inwards, the electorate will mark you down.”
— With the Australian Associated Press.
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