Liberal Leadership Crisis Deepens as Senior MP Questions Ley's Position
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Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tehan defended Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s position Friday as senior Victorian senator Sarah Henderson declared she could no longer support “the way things are,” exposing deepening fractures within the opposition party ahead of a critical energy policy announcement.
Tehan, speaking to Sky News AM Agenda after stepping out of the Liberal Party Federal Council meeting in Canberra, dismissed suggestions Ley was losing support despite Henderson’s pointed comments earlier in the day questioning the leader’s position.
“Look, absolutely,” Tehan said when asked if he could back the current situation. “We began a process which was all about making sure that we got our policies right.”
His comments came hours after Henderson told the program she believed Ley was losing support within the party, though she added: “I do believe in miracles. We can turn things around.”
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When pressed on whether she could support Ley as leader, Henderson replied: “Pete, I am just going to say at the moment that I cannot support the way things are.” Asked directly if she was backing Ley’s leadership, Henderson said: “Well, I can’t back in the way things are, Pete, and I’ve got to be authentic and I’ve got to be honest about that.”
The public questioning of Ley’s leadership comes as the Liberal Party works to finalize its energy and emissions reduction policy — a process Tehan said he hopes to complete by “Sunday week,” or within roughly 10 days.
“Sussan rightly identified at the end, well, after the last election, that we had to get better at getting policy development done and making sure that we could put policies that will resonate with the Australian people to them at the next election,” Tehan said.
The shadow energy minister characterized the policy development process as constructive despite the public tensions, saying colleagues have been “very, very forthright in expressing their views.”
“I want to thank all my colleagues because everyone’s been prepared to sit down, to express their views,” Tehan said. “Obviously, we had a very constructive meeting Friday week ago where colleagues put their view.”
Tehan repeatedly declined to confirm whether the Liberal Party would drop its net zero emissions target, a move that would align the party more closely with the National Party’s recent policy position.
“Look, I’m working through with my colleagues where we need to go and what we need to do,” Tehan said when asked directly about abandoning net zero. “And as I’ve said all along, the job that I’ve got is to make sure I hear and listen, not only from all our colleagues, but also from industry.”
The shadow minister said he has been consulting with “big energy retailers” and stakeholders across the energy sector to develop the policy. He described the task as “a bit like threading a needle, but I think we can get there.”
Tehan emphasized the importance of coordinating with the National Party to maintain coalition unity. “One of the things that when I set about with embarking on this process was that I knew immediately, and I think Sussan and David knew immediately, that not only do we have to take our distinct processes in place, put them in place, but also we had to work together as part of that as well,” he said.
The Liberal and National parties have held joint working group meetings “every time the Parliament has sat since the last election,” Tehan said, adding: “I thank the National Party for the cooperative way that they’ve done that.”
When asked whether dropping net zero would present political risks in his own electorate of Wannan, which faced a strong challenge from a teal-style independent at the last election, Tehan defended his constituents’ priorities.
“I’ve got Portland aluminium, which is incredibly important to my electorate in terms of jobs and the export income that it earns for the state of Victoria and the state of our nation,” Tehan said. “We’ve got to make sure that our number one priority is cheap and affordable energy. That has to be our number one priority, otherwise we cannot compete internationally.”
But he acknowledged the need to balance economic concerns with environmental action. “They also want to see us doing our bit when it comes to emissions reduction. So that’s the other part that we’ve got to make sure that we get right. And that’s the Balancing Act,” he said.
Tehan framed the policy debate as a response to the government’s failures on energy. “Their policy isn’t working. Electricity prices up 40 per cent. Sadly, industry is closing and emissions flatlining. It’s a complete and utter abject failure,” he said.
The shadow minister said Ley placed “a huge responsibility” on him to develop an energy and emissions reduction policy following the party’s election loss in May. He described the importance of getting the policy right given that “energy is basically the future of our nation.”
Tehan noted the party’s political trajectory over the past year, saying: “This time 12 months ago, we were ahead in the polls and things went terribly wrong between now and May.”
He said the party has been focused on policy development for the past six months since the election loss. “Given the importance of energy and emissions reduction to the future of our nation, that we’ll be able to land a policy over the next couple of weeks and then we’ll be able to take it up to the government,” Tehan said.
The Federal Council meeting in Canberra featured “a lot of interesting people in our policy development process,” Tehan said, describing “really good conversations” taking place within the party.
When asked whether Henderson’s morning comments were helpful, Tehan deflected. “Look, colleagues have been saying things right throughout this debate, and my job has been to focus on the policy, and that’s what I’ve been doing,” he said.
He thanked both Liberal and National Party colleagues “for the respectful way that you’ve engaged in this process,” adding: “I look forward to those respectful engagements continuing, because in the end, we need to get this policy right.”
Tehan said the party’s working policy group met Wednesday with National Party representatives for “very fruitful discussions.” Another Liberal Party meeting is scheduled for Wednesday where colleagues will present their views before the party attempts to finalize a joint position with the Nationals.
The shadow minister said he is “confident that hopefully we will be able to get a really good policy in place, which looks at those two key aspects” of affordable energy and emissions reduction. “That means that as a opposition, as a coalition, we can really take the fight up to the government,” he said.
The leadership tensions and policy debates come as the Liberal Party attempts to rebuild following its May election loss. Henderson described the current period as “a very difficult time for the Liberal Party.”
Ley became Liberal leader after the party’s electoral defeat, tasked with developing policy positions and rebuilding the opposition’s competitiveness ahead of the next election. Tehan said the goal is to “make sure they’re in the national interest and make sure that they will make us competitive at the next election.”
The party faces pressure to present a unified energy policy that can satisfy both its moderate and conservative wings while maintaining the coalition partnership with the National Party, which has already staked out its position on emissions targets.
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