Liberal MPs have publicly and privately said Sussan Ley’s position is safe for now after backbencher Sarah Henderson claimed the leader was “losing support” of colleagues amid dire opinion polling and infighting over net zero emissions.
Angus Taylor – arguably the biggest threat to Ley after narrowly losing in the last leadership ballot – said he “absolutely” wasn’t planning a challenge, backing her to lead the Coalition to the next federal election.
Ley would not be drawn on Henderson’s inflammatory comments, but claimed her team was “absolutely united” in the common goal of holding the Albanese government to account.
Ahead of a series of crunch meetings next week to finally settle the Coalition’s position on net zero emissions, Henderson triggered fresh speculation about Ley’s future after repeatedly refusing to back the leader in two media appearances on Friday.
The conservative Victorian senator told Sky News she “can’t support things the way they are at the moment” but was hopeful the opposition could turn the situation around.
Asked if Ley could turn the situation around, Henderson said: “I don’t know.”
When pushed on whether she thought things could be better under Ley, Henderson paused before replying: “Well … I am just going to say at the moment that I cannot support the way things are.”
She conceded that the comments were not an endorsement of Ley.
Speaking to reporters in Parliament House straight after the Sky interview, Henderson doubled down on her comments.
“At the end of the day, we need to do better and I’m very hopeful that we can turn this ship around,” she said. “I think a lot of my colleagues are very concerned about the way things are going.
“We know things are dire at the moment and I can’t pretend that things are going well.”
Liberal MPs across the factional divide were quick to downplay the significance of the intervention, noting Henderson had been aggrieved with Ley since she was demoted to the backbench after the post-election leadership change.
While there are rumblings about the leader’s judgment, handling of the net zero debate, and frustration with the party’s dire polling following its worst-ever election defeat, Ley is not considered to be under serious threat.
Approached by reporters about Henderson’s comments, Taylor backed the leader.
“I think Sussan is well established as leader and will be with us to the next election,” he said.
Asked if he was planning to “roll” the leader, Taylor said: “Absolutely not.”
Jane Hume, who like Henderson was demoted to the backbench after the election, said Ley “absolutely has my support”, expressing confidence in the leader’s ability to steer the party through the net zero debate.
The NSW senator Dave Sharma said Ley’s leadership was safe, rejecting Henderson’s assertion that Ley was “losing support” in the party room.
Andrew Hastie, viewed as the other main threat to Ley, did not endorse or refute Henderson’s comments when asked to respond to them on 2GB.
“I think we can turn things around, and the thing we have to do is come to a position on net zero. That’s my singular focus. Until we sort that out, it doesn’t matter who leads the party – we’re not in the fight,” said Hastie, who wants the carbon target ditched entirely.
Ley refused to weigh in on Henderson’s comments, which mark the latest outbreak of disunity in the six months since the Coalition’s election defeat.
“I’m not going to comment on commentary,” she told reporters outside the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra, where senior Liberals – including Taylor – were attending an event on Friday morning.
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“You wouldn’t expect me to. Because I’m not focused on comments that other people relay to me, or that might be made in a variety of contexts. The only thing I care about is working hard for the Australian people.”
The opposition leader would not preempt the outcome of next week’s meetings to decide the Liberal party’s position on net zero.
Despite protests from Liberal moderates, Ley is expected to follow the Nationals in dumping net zero emissions as a target amid concern among senior colleagues that the term has become “poisoned” in the political debate.
Taylor and Hastie support abandoning the target, putting pressure on the leader to follow suit.
The scrutiny on Ley’s position has also intensified after the Coalition’s primary vote slumped to a record low 24% in the latest Newspoll – just nine points in front of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
Ley’s own personal approval rating crashed to minus 33, according to the poll published in The Australian.
The leader this week insisted her position was safe while Taylor and other leading conservatives ruled out a challenge this year.
The Liberal party’s position on net zero emissions will be formalised at a meeting of the Liberal shadow ministry in Canberra next Thursday, which will follow a party room meeting the day before to endorse a “set of principles” on climate and energy.
Three senior Liberals and Nationals will then thrash out a joint position, which will be put to a virtual Coalition meeting on Sunday 16 November.
In an opinion piece published in the Australian Financial Review on Friday, the shadow energy minister, Dan Tehan, set the stage for the Liberals to dump the Scott Morrison-era pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
“We urgently need a reset in how we think about energy and emissions reduction, shifting from doomsday narratives towards rational policies that prioritise strategic investment in R&D, and innovation,” Tehan wrote.
“The political debate over climate change needs a reset.”
Parliament returns on 24 November for the final sitting week of the year.
