Opposition Leader Sussan Ley leaves the party room meeting alone.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
It was an entirely avoidable sight that summed up the moment: Ley has few allies left prepared to stand by her side, and at the toughest moment of her leadership.
Back in May when Ley became leader, 25 MPs voted for her rival, Angus Taylor (Ley received 29 votes, but two of the people who voted for her are now not in parliament).
Some of those 25 MPs have never accepted that their man did not get the nod and from that moment, net zero has been a proxy for debate over the direction, purpose and policies Ley is attempting to persuade her party to adopt.
And although the Coalition has been all but wiped out in Australia’s major cities, where a credible climate policy is the price of entry, even the term “net zero” has become so toxic for some conservatives that it simply has to go.
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Ley, the conservatives’ unwanted leader, is just a minor hurdle on the road to the revolution against net zero.
Wednesday’s latest piece of Liberal Party political theatre is not just episode 412 in the opposition’s never-ending climate change wars.
It marks a significant break in the political consensus that has existed since Scott Morrison signed Australia up to net zero nearly five years ago, and it draws a new battle line between Labor and the Coalition.
It is not just the conservatives who dragged the party to this point.
Ley was forced to sack shadow minister Jacinta Nampijinpa Price in September and then watched on as shadow cabinet member Andrew Hastie resigned shortly after. That was bad enough, though she had little choice on the former and little say in the latter.
Andrew Hastie and James Paterson shake hands after the meeting. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Since then, perhaps spooked by losing those shadow ministers, she has made a series of mistakes that all her own fault, including the call for Ambassador Kevin Rudd to be sacked and accusing the prime minister of wearing an anti-semitic T-shirt.
These were shocking own goals that crystallised questions about the leader’s judgement.
For months, people in her party have believed she supports net zero.
In recent days, the ground has been softened for the leader to switch her support to opposing the soon-to-be-former net zero policy – presumably so Ley can remain leader and stay in lockstep with the majority of her party room.
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Under Peter Dutton, the Liberal Party rarely, if ever, had policy disagreements. It was top down. Ley wanted to encourage debate in this term of parliament. She has been granted her wish, and then some, as this dispute has dragged out – and dragged Ley down – for the last six months.
Now even some of her strongest supporters believe a challenge to Ley is inevitable and further, that she will lose.
As one disillusioned moderate Liberal put it to this masthead two days ago: “What was the point of voting for Sussan if we end up with the Nationals’ climate policy?”
In a couple of months, there’s a decent chance Australians will be watching those same Liberals filing back into the party room.
Ley, a well-known numerology enthusiast, doesn’t look like she’s got the numbers on her side.
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