Sussan Ley’s closest supporters are poised to be demoted as the new Liberal leader, Angus Taylor, prepares to install conservatives to deliver his rightwing agenda.
Liberal MPs expect Alex Hawke, Anne Ruston, Andrew Wallace and Paul Scarr will be dropped to make room for the return of Andrew Hastie and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price among others on the frontbench.
Jane Hume, who is a moderate but was exiled under Ley, will be automatically promoted after winning the deputy leadership from Ted O’Brien.
The new opposition leader described Hastie and Price as “extraordinary human beings” in an interview with 2GB on Monday, as Liberal sources all but confirmed the duo would return to the fold after a period on the outer during Ley’s nine months in charge.
“I’m back, baby,” Price said in a podcast interview with Karl Stefanovic, in which she also refused to apologise for the Indian migration comments that led to her sacking under Ley.
Taylor’s new shadow ministry would be announced this week.
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After stepping aside and allowing Taylor a clean run at the leadership, Hastie was widely expected to be handed a domestic-focused portfolio such as industry, small business or energy.
The former soldier has long coveted an economic portfolio to expand his credentials beyond defence and security, but was denied the opportunity under Ley and her predecessor, Peter Dutton.
Returning Hastie and Price to the frontbench would be a further sign of Taylor’s intention to win back conservative voters who were fleeing to One Nation.
Taylor declared stopping “bad immigration” a policy priority immediately after winning Friday’s ballot, flagging a further shift to the political right under his leadership.
As reported on Monday, Ley was already planning to release a hardline immigration policy prior to her ousting, which included banning migration from regions under the control of listed terrorist organisations.
Sarah Henderson was pushing for a return to shadow cabinet, while Tony Pasin and Matt O’Sullivan could be rewarded with promotions after helping to engineer Taylor’s win.
One Liberal MP said Taylor should have one eye to “generational change”, nominating Simon Kennedy and Aaron Violi as candidates for promotion.
The elevations were expected to come at the expense of Liberals who were closely aligned to Ley, such as Hawke, her numbers man and centre-right faction powerbroker.
Melissa Price, Scott Buchholz and Jason Wood could also be dumped.
But the most significant demotion could be Ruston, the most senior moderate and the Liberals’ deputy leader in the Senate.
Fellow moderates Andrew Bragg and Tim Wilson were expected to remain in shadow cabinet while factional ally Dave Sharma was tipped to be promoted from the shadow assistant ranks.
Wilson, who is considered a contender for the shadow treasurer role, was described by Hume on Monday as a “warrior” and “one of the most articulate and deep thinkers in the Liberal party”.
Dan Tehan has been mentioned as a potential manager of opposition business, a position that was held by Hawke.
Taylor would also bring a new team of staff into the opposition leader’s office.
Sam Riordan, an experienced political adviser who served under Dutton, was expected to be named as Taylor’s chief-of-staff, three sources told Guardian Australia.
In a farewell message posted to LinkedIn, Ley’s outgoing chief-of-staff, Dean Shachar, said his team was doing everything it could to ensure the “smoothest transition possible”.
“Your success will be our success and we are cheering you on,” Shachar wrote.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
