What new Liberal leadership means for party, policy |
Angus Taylor’s elevation to the Liberal leadership is a victory for the party’s Conservative faction.
That faction’s policies might shore up the position of its MPs and Senators against a resurgent One Nation, but they will cruel the electoral chances of Moderate Liberal candidates in the big cities, where federal elections are won and lost.
Incumbent Conservative Liberal politicians have voted for their own survival.
That’s understandable – they know they can’t save their party from the electoral sidelines, especially when they hold less than one quarter of the House of Representative seats.
But as the new Conservative Liberal leadership announces policies they hope will make them competitive with One Nation and stabilise the Coalition with the Nationals, they will infuriate Liberal-leaning city voters.
Already the Teals hold six formerly safe Liberal seats. And at the 2025 election Labor won 12 urban seats from the Liberals.
As the Parliamentary Liberal Party seeks to compete with One Nation in regional Australia, it will cruel its chances of regaining these urban seats.
So, the Liberal Party’s shift to the right makes no sense. Or does it?
The Conservative faction of the Liberal Party has around 31 MPs and Senators, the Moderates only 16, with around four non-aligned.
Numerous Liberal MPs and Senators have said publicly the........