‘Worst I’ve ever seen’: Pressure mounts on Sussan Ley after senior Liberal’s scathing broadside

Sussan Ley is facing even more pressure as federal opposition leader after a stinging broadside from senior Liberal senator Sarah Henderson.The conservative upper house MP – who has been unhappy with Ley since the new opposition leader dumped her from the Coalition frontbench earlier this year – gave a scathing appraisal of the state of the Liberal Party this morning.

“There’s increasing concern in our party as to the way we are going… the infighting has been terrible,” Henderson told reporters. 

Sussan Ley is under enormous pressure as opposition leader. (Alex Ellinghausen)

“I’m terribly sorry about what’s been going on in the Liberal Party.

“I’ve been a member of parliament since 2013. It’s the worst I’ve ever seen in our party, and I’ve seen a few dramas.”

Those comments came shortly after an explosive interview with Sky News, in which the senator from Victoria questioned Ley’s leadership.

“As a member of parliament, I can’t pretend things are good,” Henderson said.

“We’ve had a dire Newspoll result. A primary vote of just 24 per cent, things are not travelling well … I do think Sussan is losing support, but I do believe in miracles. We can turn things around, but things are not good. I don’t support things the way they are.”

When asked later by journalists whether she believed Ley would still be opposition leader at the end of the year, Henderson was noncommittal.

Sarah Henderson was none too happy about being dumped from the Coalition frontbench by Ley earlier this year. (Alex Ellinghausen)

“I can’t speak for Sussan,” she replied. 

“All I can say to you, authentically and honestly, is I don’t support the way things are at the moment.”

After winning the Liberal leadership in a narrow contest against conservative Angus Taylor, the moderate Ley took the helm of a party at its lowest-ever ebb, following the thrashing it received in May’s federal election.

Ley also hasn’t been helped by some of her colleagues, with two high-profile departures from her shadow ministry, and the Nationals quitting then rejoining the Coalition before announcing last weekend it was dumping net zero as a policy – a move that could harm the Liberals’ chances of winning back inner-city seats at the next election.

But at the same time, Ley has made a number of questionable decisions of her own that her party has refused to back, such as calling for US Ambassador Kevin Rudd to be fired after orchestrating an almost entirely successful White House meeting, and criticising Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for wearing a Joy Division T-shirt.

But following the stinging comments from Henderson – who backed Taylor in May’s leadership contest – this morning, Liberal MPs have thrown their weight behind Ley.

Angus Taylor said he believed Ley would still be opposition leader at the next election and that he had no plans to replace her anytime soon. (Rhett Wyman/SMH)

Jane Hume, Dave Sharma, Tony Pasin and Taylor all said they disagreed with the notion Ley was losing support of the party room, with the latter saying he was “absolutely not” planning to roll her as leader.

“I think Sussan is well-established as leader and will be with us through to the next election,” he said.

The latest turmoil comes after Ley called a party room meeting for next Wednesday for the Liberals to come to a decision on climate policy and whether to stick with aiming for net zero emissions by 2050 – a topic that has caused significant disagreement between the party’s moderate and conservative factions.

Ley tasked senior MP Dan Tehan to conduct a comprehensive review of the party’s climate and energy platform following the May election.

Asked about Henderson’s comments and Ley’s performance this morning, Tehan said he was focused on the policy development.

“Colleagues have been saying a variety of things over the last few months,” he said.

“What I’m focused on is making sure we get the policy right, the energy and emissions reduction policy right because that is what the Australian people want us to do.”

Following the meeting on Wednesday, the Liberal Party is expected to unveil its climate and energy policy by next Sunday.