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Liberal Andrew Hastie has sensationally pulled out of a mooted ballot against Sussan Ley to avoid a destructive long-term rupture in a conservative faction split between Hastie and fellow leadership aspirant Angus Taylor.
The backdown, first reported by this masthead on Friday afternoon, was not the result of any deal between Taylor and Hastie. Nevertheless, it paves the way for Taylor to mount a challenge against Ley with the Right united behind him.
The announcement came hours after Ley delivered an ultimatum to the Nationals to revive the Coalition, frustrating some of her senior MPs who questioned whether she was using the Nationals feud to project strength and help her cling to her job.
Taylor has told colleagues a spill should not happen next week when interest rates are likely to rise, so any leadership challenge may be in a fortnight, at the end of the parliamentary sitting, or even months away.
Hastie’s decision happened a day after a meeting of right-wing powerbrokers in Melbourne resulted in neither Hastie nor Taylor stepping back from their ambitions to seize power of the ailing party.
Sources with direct knowledge of Hastie’s mindset said it became clear that Taylor, 59, would not be comfortable sitting out the leadership ballot and serving under the 43-year-old, whereas Hastie knew he had many years ahead of him and was open to working with Taylor, despite believing he had more support to run.
If Hastie pushed ahead with a spill, it was possible that Taylor and his backers would not support it, or that Taylor might even quit the parliament sometime in the future, serving only to bolster the moderates’ choice, Ley.
Such a scenario would have constituted a remarkable split in the Right that would have turned the fortnight of disagreement in the Taylor versus Hastie battle into long-term relationship damage between conservative MPs.
“Andrew knew this would be perceived as him blinking, but he’s done the team thing and kept the team from blowing up,” one senior MP said, acknowledging that perceptions of Hastie might be damaged if onlookers judged he did not have the mettle to take his chance.
Supporters of the West Australian had claimed he was ready to put his hand up since the moment the Coalition blew up last week, triggering a crisis for Ley, but Hastie climbed down on Friday.
“Having consulted with colleagues over the past week and respecting their honest feedback to me, it is clear that I do not have the support needed to become leader of the Liberal Party,” Hastie said on Friday.
“On this basis, I wish to make it clear I will not be contesting the leadership of the Liberal Party.”
Hastie’s camp was heavily criticised by others in the Right for being gung-ho and moving too quickly towards a leadership spill. One senior Hastie backer said the bad blood of the past fortnight meant some in the Right would not even back Taylor, complicating a future challenge.
What was meant to be a secret meeting at a residence in Melbourne on Thursday backfired on Hastie and right-wing powerbrokers who met before a former colleague’s funeral to decide whether Hastie or Taylor should run.
Cameras captured the event, putting a spotlight on the conservatives’ failure to pick one of Hastie or Taylor, and creating awkwardness for frontbenchers James Paterson and Jonno Duniam, who serve in Ley’s leadership team. It also drew genuine irritation from fellow MPs who believed it was disrespectful to hold the talks before attending a funeral, a view expressed by frontbencher Maria Kovacic on Friday.
The meeting could not solve the deadlock and meant Hastie was unable to rally enough support to force a spill because Taylor pushed back against a split and therefore split the Right.
Hastie’s revelation came hours after Ley set a hard deadline for Nationals leader David Littleproud to reform the Coalition before she ploughed ahead with a Liberal-only opposition.
Littleproud rejected Ley’s offer to meet before next week’s parliamentary sitting to discuss an unlikely reconciliation after last week’s messy split over shadow cabinet discipline. He said he would be open to meeting after he faces a leadership spill on Monday.
Ley and her most senior MPs agreed to fill the vacancies in her shadow ministry, caused by mass Nationals resignations, in the meantime by giving existing Liberal shadow ministers additional responsibilities.
After that point, Ley suggested, Liberals would be promoted into the Nationals’ old portfolios and salaries and staff would be allocated, effectively cementing the Liberal-National split for a long while.
“There is enormous talent in the parliamentary Liberal Party and my party room is more than capable of permanently fulfilling each and every one of those roles,” Ley said in a statement, saying the “door remains open” to a Coalition agreement.
But Ley is facing questions from inside her own camp about whether her tough bargaining tactics are designed to capitalise on widespread Liberal hostility towards Littleproud as she tries to fend off a challenge to her own position. Opening the prospect of promoting Liberals into the Nationals’ spots also allows Ley to win over unaligned voters in any leadership ballot.
Most MPs in a Liberal leadership group meeting agreed with the week-long deadline, but three sources aware of the meeting, not authorised to speak publicly, said a few MPs asked whether Littleproud should be given more time.
Regional Liberal and frontbencher Dan Tehan argued in the virtual meeting that the week-long deadline should not be hard and fast. He also said the Liberals should communicate the time frame respectfully and privately before it was broadcast in the media to ensure the Nationals believed the move was made in good faith.
On Friday, Ley released a joint media statement about a local issue with Michael McCormack, a former Nationals leader and leadership rival to Littleproud. The move was viewed as a slightly provocative attempt to show Ley could still work with Nationals outside Littleproud.
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Paul Sakkal is chief political correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and has won Walkley and Quill awards. Reach him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14Connect via X or email.From our partners
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