Latest news with #Dutton
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Real people, real families': Coalition signals dramatic shift away from anti-immigration rhetoric of Dutton era
The federal opposition will adopt a more empathetic approach to migrants that seeks to emphasise people's positive contribution to Australia, says the new shadow immigration minister, Paul Scarr, drawing a line under the harsh anti-immigration rhetoric deployed under Peter Dutton. Scarr, who is also shadow minister for multicultural affairs, told Guardian Australia it is a 'profound tragedy' that Chinese, Indian and other diaspora communities have abandoned the Liberals at the past two elections, as in his view, their values should naturally align with the party's core principles. His comments come as the pollster and former Labor strategist Kos Samaras says that to have any hope of winning those voters back, the Coalition would need to abandon an approach to multicultural Australia that acted 'like we are still living in 1996'. 'They have hard-baked a brand that they are not a political party that likes people who have come to the country over the past 15 or 20 years,' Samaras says. Immigration was one of the Coalition's main priorities under Dutton, who promised dramatic cuts to permanent migration and net overseas migration as he sought to directly link a post-pandemic influx of people to the housing supply and affordability crisis. The future of those policies is up in the air as the Liberals, now led by Sussan Ley, review their entire agenda after the election defeat. But one thing Scarr has immediately committed to is a new tone when talking about migrants, signalling a dramatic shift from the sort of inflammatory language associated with Dutton's immigration agenda. At various points during the previous term, Dutton – who has a long history of comments attacking refugees and asylum seekers – called for a temporary ban on people from Gaza coming to Australia and floated the idea of a referendum on deporting dual citizens who committed serious crimes. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Without reflecting on his former leader, Scarr says empathy would drive his approach to the immigration debate. 'One of the things I am passionate about is getting the tone of discussion right – I think that is of critical importance,' Scarr says. 'And any discussion of immigration must proceed, in my view, on the basis of the contribution that's been made to this country by so many people who have come to this country as migrants. 'So [when] we talk about immigration, we talk about numbers in a macro sense, but we should never forget that we're actually talking about real people, real families who have different, varying experiences.' The Queensland senator traces his commitment to multiculturalism to his pre-politics career as a lawyer, working in Papua New Guinea and later for a mining company with interests in Laos, Chile, Myanmar and Thailand among other countries. Scarr says he was aware of how hurtful 'loose', 'harsh' or 'clumsy' comments from politicians could be for migrant communities, and put the onus on his colleagues to be 'ever-mindful' of their language. He says it is hard to rebuild bridges if there is a lack of trust or a disconnect between politicians and communities. Multicultural communities were among voter groups to abandon the Coalition at the past two elections, with Chinese voters, for example, swinging heavily to Labor in seats such as Chisholm, Aston and Menzies in Melbourne and Bennelong and Reid in Sydney. 'It is a profound tragedy that we're currently in this situation where there is that disconnect,' Scarr says. 'The values of so many members of the multicultural communities are absolutely aligned with the values of the Liberal party, in terms of reward for effort, in terms of individual freedoms – because in many cases people have fled countries where they're deprived those freedoms – and in terms of the importance of the family unit.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Scarr has no immediate explanation of why migrant communities had deserted the party but suggests the Coalition's political opponents had been able to successfully weaponise public statements to tarnish their image. Labor seized on Jane Hume's 'Chinese spies' claim in the dying days of the federal election campaign, circulating a video message featuring Penny Wong speaking in Mandarin to voters on the social media app WeChat. Yun Jiang, at the University of Technology Sydney Australia-China Relations Institute, says the Liberal party has traditionally 'appealed' to many Chinese migrants who come on skills visas, set up small businesses in Australia and are socially conservative. But she says it will be 'difficult' for the Liberals to regain the support of the Chinese community, and that they will need to 'tone down their language' on China. 'The Liberals' [2022 election] postmortem said they need to be more mindful of language, but clearly, at the end of the last election campaign … they seemed to forget the lessons they had written down themselves,' she says. 'They [the Coalition] would need to be much more careful about their language around the threat of China, and especially on Chinese [people] being portrayed as spies or nefarious actors influencing the Australian political landscape … I think they also need to tone down the constant talk of war.' Samaras, who now works for research firm RedBridge, says it will take years for the Liberals to rebuild support among multicultural communities. The task is electorally critical, given the party's diminished numbers in parliament as well as the rapid growth in the Chinese and Indian diasporas, particularly in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. 'When we speak to them [voters in focus groups] and they walk through their values, which are all about wealth accumulation, aspiration, small business – these people should be, culturally, Coalition voters,' Samaras says. 'But then we ask them why they are not, [and] their answer is pretty blunt: 'They don't like us'.' Scarr accepts the assessment. 'Every single day between now and election day, and in fact, every single day after I was elected, I do everything I can to change and recalibrate those perspectives,' he says.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Liberal Party's social media pages 'hacked' with pornographic images - just hours after Sussan Ley's landmark speech
The Liberal Party's social media pages were briefly hacked with pornographic images allegedly advertising boob jobs - just hours after the new leader insisted her mission was to enhance female representation. Several extremely scantily-clad, seemingly AI-generated, women appeared on the 'stories' section of the Liberal Party of Australia Facebook page and Instagram accounts on Wednesday night. The images, which were broadcast to both page's combined 360,000 followers, were swiftly deleted - but not before eagle-eyed and fast-fingered viewers could grab screenshots. Some reported the X-rated pictures were an advert for breast enlargement procedures, while many saw the funny side. 'The Liberal party has gone t**s up,' one quipped. Another claimed they were 'just showing the benefits of inflation ', while a third suggested they were 'making the breast of a bad situation' following their historic humbling at the polls. 'The Liberal Party in Australia has been giving jobs to boobs for years. Just look at Dutton,' one joked. Daily Mail Australia approached the Liberal Party for comment. Sussan Ley, the party's first-female leader in its 80-year history, attempted to make a clean breast of things on Wednesday when she admitted the party had been 'smashed' at the federal election. 'Let's be honest and up front about last month's election,' she told the National Press Club in Canberra. 'We didn't just lose. We got smashed. Totally smashed.' Ley's speech was her first major attempt to refashion the party in her own image. She began it with an acknowledgement to country - a ceremony predecessor Peter Dutton said was 'overdone'. She also sought to distinguish herself from Dutton by highlighting her 'deep and abiding respect for the public service'. Dutton, infamously, had to abandon his plans to force all public servants back into the office because of its deep unpopularity. Ley, 63, also discussed two separate reviews into the Liberal Party's collapse: one conducting a 'root and branch' review of the election result and another having a 'deeper look at the existential issues we face'. Sussan Ley, the party's first-female leader in its 80-year history, attempted to make a clean breast of things on Wednesday when she admitted the party had been 'smashed' at the federal election She also insisted she was a 'zealot' about increasing the number of Liberal women in parliament, backing quotas for female candidates. 'As the first woman leader of our Federal Party, let me send the clearest possible message: we need to do better, recruit better, retain better and support better,' she said. 'That is why I will work with every Division, as will my Parliamentary team, to ensure we preselect more women for the 2028 Election.' Only a third of Liberal Party MPs are women compared to over half of Labor MPs.
Sky News AU
4 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley performs Acknowledgement of Country, signals new tone for Liberal Party
Newly appointed Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has adopted an Aboriginal Acknowledgement of Country, breaking from the position of former leader Peter Dutton. Ms Ley succeeded Mr Dutton as Opposition Leader after he lost his seat of Dickson at the 2025 federal election. While Mr Dutton had moved away from recognition of the Aboriginal Australian community at public events, Ms Ley has embraced a different stance. 'I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today,' Ms Ley said at the National Press Club on Wednesday. Her decision to formally recognise indigenous people at the high-profile event draws a stark contrast to Mr Dutton. The former Opposition Leader had repeatedly argued that Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country ceremonies had become 'overdone'. He also stated that he would not stand in front of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags if elected as Prime Minister. Mr Dutton's position attracted criticism as being emblematic of a culture war approach that intensified under his leadership. In her address, Ms Ley indicated that the Liberal Party would undergo a period of deep reflection after its electoral wipeout on May 3. She announced an existential review into long-term challenges confronting the party, including the loss of teal-held inner-city seats and ageing party membership. 'Our aim is to ensure the Liberal Party's future policy offering connects with voters across the country,' she said. 'I see supporting Indigenous Australians as a priority, I want to shout out to Kerrynne Liddle, a proud Indigenous woman. 'She's a Senator for South Australia and I'll be in close touch with her and all of my colleagues about how to best support the aspirations of Indigenous Australians.' The shift is particularly noteworthy given Ms Ley's former role as deputy under Peter Dutton, where she often defended the party's cultural positions. Asked at her first press conference after winning Liberal Party leadership, she said that Welcome to Country ceremonies would be held if the event was meaningful. 'With respect to Welcome to Country, it's simple: if it's meaningful, if it matters, if it resonates, then it's in the right place,' Ms Ley said. 'As Environment Minister and Health Minister I listened carefully and participated in Welcome to Country ceremonies that were all of those things. 'If it is done in a way that is ticking a box on a Teams meeting then I don't think it is relevant. 'It actually diminishes the value of what it is and it's important that we understand that.'
West Australian
20-06-2025
- Politics
- West Australian
Michelle Grattan: Key tests looming for Opposition leader Sussan Ley
On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will front the National Press Club. So why is that a big deal? For one thing, her predecessor Peter Dutton never appeared there as Opposition leader. For another, it's a formidable forum for a new leader. It could all go badly wrong, but she's right to make the early appearance. It sends a message she is not risk-averse. Ley wants to establish a better relationship with the Canberra Press Gallery than Dutton had. He saw the gallery journalists as part of the despised 'Canberra bubble' and bypassed them when he could. That didn't serve him well — not least because he wasn't toughened up for when he had to face daily news conferences (with many Canberra reporters) on the election trail. Ley's office has set up a WhatsApp group for gallery journalists, alerting them to who's appearing in the media, and also dispatching short responses to things said by the Government (such as links to ministers' former statements). This matches the WhatsApp group for the gallery run by the Prime Minister's Office. One of Ley's press secretaries, Liam Jones, has also regularly been doing the rounds in the media corridors of Parliament House, something that very rarely happened with Dutton's media staff. To the extent anyone is paying attention, Ley has made a better start than many, including some Liberals, had expected. She came out of the tiff with the Nationals well, despite having to give ground on their policy demands. Her frontbench reshuffle had flaws but wasn't terrible. She's struck a reasonable, rather than shrill, tone in her comments on issues, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's failure thus far to get a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Her next significant test will be how she handles at the Press Club questions she and her party are confronting. So here are a few for her. One (the most fundamental): How is she going to thread the needle between the two sides of the Liberal Party? John Howard's old 'broad church' answer no longer holds. The church is fractured. In an era of identity politics, the Liberals have a massive identity crisis. The party's conservatives are hard line, have hold of its (narrow) base, and will undermine Ley if they can. Its moderates will struggle to shape key policies in a way that will appeal to urban small-l liberal voters. Two: How and when will she deal with the future of the Coalition's commitment to net zero emissions by 2050? She has put all policies on the table (but made exceptions for several Nationals' core policies). There is a strong case for her staking out her own position on net zero, and getting the policy settled sooner rather than later. With younger voters having eschewed the Liberals, Ley told The Daily Aus podcast this week,'I want young people to know first and foremost that I want to listen to them and meet them where they are'. One place they are is in support of net zero by 2050. If the Liberals deserted that, they'd be making the challenge of attracting more youth votes a herculean one. For the Opposition net zero is likely THE climate debate of this term — and such debates are at best difficult and at worst lethal for Liberal leaders. Three: Won't it be near impossible for the Liberals to get a respectable proportion of women in its House of Representatives team without quotas? Over the years, Ley has been equivocal on the issue. She told The Daily Aus: 'Each of our (Liberal State) divisions is responsible for its own world, if you like, when it comes to (candidate) selections'. This is unlikely to cut it: she needs to have a view, and a strategy. Targets haven't worked. Four: Ley says she wants to run a constructive Opposition, so how constructive will it be in the tax debate Treasurer Jim Chalmers launched this week? Ley might have a chat with Howard about the 1980s, when the Liberals had internal arguments about whether to support or oppose some of the Hawke government's reform measures. Obviously, no total buy-in should be expected but to oppose reforms for the sake of it would discredit a party trying to sell its economic credentials. More generally, how constructive or obstructive will the Opposition be in the Senate? This raises matters of principle, not just political opportunism. In the new Senate the Government will have to negotiate with either the Opposition or the Greens. If the Opposition constantly forces Labor into the arms of the Greens, that could produce legislation that (from the Liberals' point of view) is worse than if the Liberals were Labor's partner. How does that sit with them philosophically? Five: Finally, how active will Ley be in trying to drive improvements in the appalling Liberal State organisations, especially in NSW (her home State) and Victoria? The Liberals' Federal executive extended Federal intervention in the NSW division this week, with a new oversight committee, headed by onetime premier Nick Greiner. But the announcement spurred immediate factional backbiting. Ley is well across the NSW factions: her numbers man is Alex Hawke — whom she elevated to the shadow cabinet — from Scott Morrison's old centre-right faction. In Victoria, the factional infighting has been beyond parody, with former leader John Pesutto scratching around for funds to avoid bankruptcy after losing a defamation case brought by colleague Moira Deeming. That's just the start of the questions for Ley. Meanwhile, the party this week has set up an inquiry into the election disaster, to be conducted by former Federal minister Nick Minchin and former NSW minister Pru Goward. Identifying what went wrong won't be hard for them — mostly, it was blindingly obvious. Recommending solutions that the party can and will implement — that will be the difficult bit.
The Advertiser
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Advertiser
Some questions for Sussan Ley's first big media outing
On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will front the National Press Club. So why is that a big deal? For one thing, her predecessor Peter Dutton never appeared there as opposition leader. For another, it's a formidable forum for a new leader. It could all go badly wrong, but she's right to make the early appearance. It sends a message she is not risk-averse. Ley wants to establish a better relationship with the Canberra Press Gallery than Dutton had. He saw the gallery journalists as part of the despised "Canberra bubble" and bypassed them when he could. That didn't serve him well - not least because he wasn't toughened up for when he had to face daily news conferences (with many Canberra reporters) on the election trail. Ley's office has set up a WhatsApp group for gallery journalists, alerting them to who's appearing in the media, and also dispatching short responses to things said by the government (such as links to ministers' former statements). This matches the WhatsApp group for the gallery run by the Prime Minister's Office. One of Ley's press secretaries, Liam Jones, has also regularly been doing the rounds in the media corridors of Parliament House, something that very rarely happened with Dutton's media staff. To the extent anyone is paying attention, Ley has made a better start than many, including some Liberals, had expected. She came out of the tiff with the Nationals well, despite having to give ground on their policy demands. Her frontbench reshuffle had flaws but wasn't terrible. She's struck a reasonable, rather than shrill, tone in her comments on issues, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's failure thus far to get a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Her next significant test will be how she handles at the Press Club questions she and her party are confronting. So here are a few for her. One (the most fundamental): How is she going to thread the needle between the two sides of the Liberal Party? Howard's old "broad church" answer no longer holds. The church is fractured. In an era of identity politics, the Liberals have a massive identity crisis. The party's conservatives are hardline, have hold of the party's (narrow) base, and will undermine Ley if they can. Its moderates will struggle to shape its key policies in a way that will appeal to small-l liberal voters in urban seats. Two: How and when will she deal with the future of the Coalition's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050? She has put all policies on the table (but made exceptions for several Nationals' core policies). There is a strong case for her staking out her own position on net zero, and getting the policy settled sooner rather than later. With younger voters having eschewed the Liberals, Ley told The Daily Aus podcast this week, "I want young people to know first and foremost that I want to listen to them and meet them where they are". One place they are is in support of net zero by 2050. If the Liberals deserted that, they'd be making the challenge of attracting more youth votes a herculean one. For the opposition, net zero is likely THE climate debate of this term - and such debates are at best difficult and at worst lethal for Liberal leaders. Three: Won't it be near impossible for the Liberals to get a respectable proportion of women in its House of Representatives team without quotas? Over the years, Ley has been equivocal on the issue. She told The Daily Aus: "Each of our [Liberal state] divisions is responsible for its own world, if you like, when it comes to [candidate] selections". This is unlikely to cut it: she needs to have a view, and a strategy. Targets haven't worked. Four: Ley says she wants to run a constructive opposition, so how constructive will it be in the tax debate Treasurer Jim Chalmers launched this week? Ley might have a chat with John Howard about the 1980s, when the Liberals had internal arguments about whether to support or oppose some of the Hawke government's reform measures. Obviously, no total buy-in should be expected but to oppose reforms for the sake of it would discredit a party trying to sell its economic credentials. More generally, how constructive or obstructive will the opposition be in the Senate? This raises matters of principle, not just political opportunism. In the new Senate the government will have to negotiate on legislation with either the opposition or the Greens. If the opposition constantly forces Labor into the arms of the Greens, that could produce legislation that (from the Liberals' point of view) is worse than if the Liberals were Labor's partner. How does that sit with them philosophically? MORE FROM GRATTAN: Five: Finally, how active will Ley be in trying to drive improvements in the appalling Liberal state organisations, especially in NSW (her home state) and Victoria? The Liberals' federal executive extended federal intervention in the NSW division this week, with a new oversight committee, headed by onetime premier Nick Greiner. But the announcement spurred immediate backbiting, with conservatives seeing it advantaging the moderates. Ley is well across the NSW factions: her numbers man is Alex Hawke - whom she elevated to the shadow cabinet - from Scott Morrison's old centre-right faction, and she has a staffer from that faction in a senior position in her office. The faction has also protected her preselection in the past. In Victoria, the factional infighting has been beyond parody, with former leader John Pesutto scratching around for funds to avoid bankruptcy after losing a defamation case brought by colleague Moira Deeming. Some Liberals think the state party could even lose what should be the unlosable state election next year. That's just the start of the questions for Ley. Meanwhile, the party this week has set up an inquiry into the election disaster, to be conducted by former federal minister Nick Minchin and former NSW minister Pru Goward. Identifying what went wrong won't be hard for them - mostly, it was blindingly obvious. Recommending solutions that the party can and will implement - that will be the difficult bit. On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will front the National Press Club. So why is that a big deal? For one thing, her predecessor Peter Dutton never appeared there as opposition leader. For another, it's a formidable forum for a new leader. It could all go badly wrong, but she's right to make the early appearance. It sends a message she is not risk-averse. Ley wants to establish a better relationship with the Canberra Press Gallery than Dutton had. He saw the gallery journalists as part of the despised "Canberra bubble" and bypassed them when he could. That didn't serve him well - not least because he wasn't toughened up for when he had to face daily news conferences (with many Canberra reporters) on the election trail. Ley's office has set up a WhatsApp group for gallery journalists, alerting them to who's appearing in the media, and also dispatching short responses to things said by the government (such as links to ministers' former statements). This matches the WhatsApp group for the gallery run by the Prime Minister's Office. One of Ley's press secretaries, Liam Jones, has also regularly been doing the rounds in the media corridors of Parliament House, something that very rarely happened with Dutton's media staff. To the extent anyone is paying attention, Ley has made a better start than many, including some Liberals, had expected. She came out of the tiff with the Nationals well, despite having to give ground on their policy demands. Her frontbench reshuffle had flaws but wasn't terrible. She's struck a reasonable, rather than shrill, tone in her comments on issues, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's failure thus far to get a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Her next significant test will be how she handles at the Press Club questions she and her party are confronting. So here are a few for her. One (the most fundamental): How is she going to thread the needle between the two sides of the Liberal Party? Howard's old "broad church" answer no longer holds. The church is fractured. In an era of identity politics, the Liberals have a massive identity crisis. The party's conservatives are hardline, have hold of the party's (narrow) base, and will undermine Ley if they can. Its moderates will struggle to shape its key policies in a way that will appeal to small-l liberal voters in urban seats. Two: How and when will she deal with the future of the Coalition's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050? She has put all policies on the table (but made exceptions for several Nationals' core policies). There is a strong case for her staking out her own position on net zero, and getting the policy settled sooner rather than later. With younger voters having eschewed the Liberals, Ley told The Daily Aus podcast this week, "I want young people to know first and foremost that I want to listen to them and meet them where they are". One place they are is in support of net zero by 2050. If the Liberals deserted that, they'd be making the challenge of attracting more youth votes a herculean one. For the opposition, net zero is likely THE climate debate of this term - and such debates are at best difficult and at worst lethal for Liberal leaders. Three: Won't it be near impossible for the Liberals to get a respectable proportion of women in its House of Representatives team without quotas? Over the years, Ley has been equivocal on the issue. She told The Daily Aus: "Each of our [Liberal state] divisions is responsible for its own world, if you like, when it comes to [candidate] selections". This is unlikely to cut it: she needs to have a view, and a strategy. Targets haven't worked. Four: Ley says she wants to run a constructive opposition, so how constructive will it be in the tax debate Treasurer Jim Chalmers launched this week? Ley might have a chat with John Howard about the 1980s, when the Liberals had internal arguments about whether to support or oppose some of the Hawke government's reform measures. Obviously, no total buy-in should be expected but to oppose reforms for the sake of it would discredit a party trying to sell its economic credentials. More generally, how constructive or obstructive will the opposition be in the Senate? This raises matters of principle, not just political opportunism. In the new Senate the government will have to negotiate on legislation with either the opposition or the Greens. If the opposition constantly forces Labor into the arms of the Greens, that could produce legislation that (from the Liberals' point of view) is worse than if the Liberals were Labor's partner. How does that sit with them philosophically? MORE FROM GRATTAN: Five: Finally, how active will Ley be in trying to drive improvements in the appalling Liberal state organisations, especially in NSW (her home state) and Victoria? The Liberals' federal executive extended federal intervention in the NSW division this week, with a new oversight committee, headed by onetime premier Nick Greiner. But the announcement spurred immediate backbiting, with conservatives seeing it advantaging the moderates. Ley is well across the NSW factions: her numbers man is Alex Hawke - whom she elevated to the shadow cabinet - from Scott Morrison's old centre-right faction, and she has a staffer from that faction in a senior position in her office. The faction has also protected her preselection in the past. In Victoria, the factional infighting has been beyond parody, with former leader John Pesutto scratching around for funds to avoid bankruptcy after losing a defamation case brought by colleague Moira Deeming. Some Liberals think the state party could even lose what should be the unlosable state election next year. That's just the start of the questions for Ley. Meanwhile, the party this week has set up an inquiry into the election disaster, to be conducted by former federal minister Nick Minchin and former NSW minister Pru Goward. Identifying what went wrong won't be hard for them - mostly, it was blindingly obvious. Recommending solutions that the party can and will implement - that will be the difficult bit. On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will front the National Press Club. So why is that a big deal? For one thing, her predecessor Peter Dutton never appeared there as opposition leader. For another, it's a formidable forum for a new leader. It could all go badly wrong, but she's right to make the early appearance. It sends a message she is not risk-averse. Ley wants to establish a better relationship with the Canberra Press Gallery than Dutton had. He saw the gallery journalists as part of the despised "Canberra bubble" and bypassed them when he could. That didn't serve him well - not least because he wasn't toughened up for when he had to face daily news conferences (with many Canberra reporters) on the election trail. Ley's office has set up a WhatsApp group for gallery journalists, alerting them to who's appearing in the media, and also dispatching short responses to things said by the government (such as links to ministers' former statements). This matches the WhatsApp group for the gallery run by the Prime Minister's Office. One of Ley's press secretaries, Liam Jones, has also regularly been doing the rounds in the media corridors of Parliament House, something that very rarely happened with Dutton's media staff. To the extent anyone is paying attention, Ley has made a better start than many, including some Liberals, had expected. She came out of the tiff with the Nationals well, despite having to give ground on their policy demands. Her frontbench reshuffle had flaws but wasn't terrible. She's struck a reasonable, rather than shrill, tone in her comments on issues, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's failure thus far to get a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Her next significant test will be how she handles at the Press Club questions she and her party are confronting. So here are a few for her. One (the most fundamental): How is she going to thread the needle between the two sides of the Liberal Party? Howard's old "broad church" answer no longer holds. The church is fractured. In an era of identity politics, the Liberals have a massive identity crisis. The party's conservatives are hardline, have hold of the party's (narrow) base, and will undermine Ley if they can. Its moderates will struggle to shape its key policies in a way that will appeal to small-l liberal voters in urban seats. Two: How and when will she deal with the future of the Coalition's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050? She has put all policies on the table (but made exceptions for several Nationals' core policies). There is a strong case for her staking out her own position on net zero, and getting the policy settled sooner rather than later. With younger voters having eschewed the Liberals, Ley told The Daily Aus podcast this week, "I want young people to know first and foremost that I want to listen to them and meet them where they are". One place they are is in support of net zero by 2050. If the Liberals deserted that, they'd be making the challenge of attracting more youth votes a herculean one. For the opposition, net zero is likely THE climate debate of this term - and such debates are at best difficult and at worst lethal for Liberal leaders. Three: Won't it be near impossible for the Liberals to get a respectable proportion of women in its House of Representatives team without quotas? Over the years, Ley has been equivocal on the issue. She told The Daily Aus: "Each of our [Liberal state] divisions is responsible for its own world, if you like, when it comes to [candidate] selections". This is unlikely to cut it: she needs to have a view, and a strategy. Targets haven't worked. Four: Ley says she wants to run a constructive opposition, so how constructive will it be in the tax debate Treasurer Jim Chalmers launched this week? Ley might have a chat with John Howard about the 1980s, when the Liberals had internal arguments about whether to support or oppose some of the Hawke government's reform measures. Obviously, no total buy-in should be expected but to oppose reforms for the sake of it would discredit a party trying to sell its economic credentials. More generally, how constructive or obstructive will the opposition be in the Senate? This raises matters of principle, not just political opportunism. In the new Senate the government will have to negotiate on legislation with either the opposition or the Greens. If the opposition constantly forces Labor into the arms of the Greens, that could produce legislation that (from the Liberals' point of view) is worse than if the Liberals were Labor's partner. How does that sit with them philosophically? MORE FROM GRATTAN: Five: Finally, how active will Ley be in trying to drive improvements in the appalling Liberal state organisations, especially in NSW (her home state) and Victoria? The Liberals' federal executive extended federal intervention in the NSW division this week, with a new oversight committee, headed by onetime premier Nick Greiner. But the announcement spurred immediate backbiting, with conservatives seeing it advantaging the moderates. Ley is well across the NSW factions: her numbers man is Alex Hawke - whom she elevated to the shadow cabinet - from Scott Morrison's old centre-right faction, and she has a staffer from that faction in a senior position in her office. The faction has also protected her preselection in the past. In Victoria, the factional infighting has been beyond parody, with former leader John Pesutto scratching around for funds to avoid bankruptcy after losing a defamation case brought by colleague Moira Deeming. Some Liberals think the state party could even lose what should be the unlosable state election next year. That's just the start of the questions for Ley. Meanwhile, the party this week has set up an inquiry into the election disaster, to be conducted by former federal minister Nick Minchin and former NSW minister Pru Goward. Identifying what went wrong won't be hard for them - mostly, it was blindingly obvious. Recommending solutions that the party can and will implement - that will be the difficult bit. On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will front the National Press Club. So why is that a big deal? For one thing, her predecessor Peter Dutton never appeared there as opposition leader. For another, it's a formidable forum for a new leader. It could all go badly wrong, but she's right to make the early appearance. It sends a message she is not risk-averse. Ley wants to establish a better relationship with the Canberra Press Gallery than Dutton had. He saw the gallery journalists as part of the despised "Canberra bubble" and bypassed them when he could. That didn't serve him well - not least because he wasn't toughened up for when he had to face daily news conferences (with many Canberra reporters) on the election trail. Ley's office has set up a WhatsApp group for gallery journalists, alerting them to who's appearing in the media, and also dispatching short responses to things said by the government (such as links to ministers' former statements). This matches the WhatsApp group for the gallery run by the Prime Minister's Office. One of Ley's press secretaries, Liam Jones, has also regularly been doing the rounds in the media corridors of Parliament House, something that very rarely happened with Dutton's media staff. To the extent anyone is paying attention, Ley has made a better start than many, including some Liberals, had expected. She came out of the tiff with the Nationals well, despite having to give ground on their policy demands. Her frontbench reshuffle had flaws but wasn't terrible. She's struck a reasonable, rather than shrill, tone in her comments on issues, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's failure thus far to get a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Her next significant test will be how she handles at the Press Club questions she and her party are confronting. So here are a few for her. One (the most fundamental): How is she going to thread the needle between the two sides of the Liberal Party? Howard's old "broad church" answer no longer holds. The church is fractured. In an era of identity politics, the Liberals have a massive identity crisis. The party's conservatives are hardline, have hold of the party's (narrow) base, and will undermine Ley if they can. Its moderates will struggle to shape its key policies in a way that will appeal to small-l liberal voters in urban seats. Two: How and when will she deal with the future of the Coalition's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050? She has put all policies on the table (but made exceptions for several Nationals' core policies). There is a strong case for her staking out her own position on net zero, and getting the policy settled sooner rather than later. With younger voters having eschewed the Liberals, Ley told The Daily Aus podcast this week, "I want young people to know first and foremost that I want to listen to them and meet them where they are". One place they are is in support of net zero by 2050. If the Liberals deserted that, they'd be making the challenge of attracting more youth votes a herculean one. For the opposition, net zero is likely THE climate debate of this term - and such debates are at best difficult and at worst lethal for Liberal leaders. Three: Won't it be near impossible for the Liberals to get a respectable proportion of women in its House of Representatives team without quotas? Over the years, Ley has been equivocal on the issue. She told The Daily Aus: "Each of our [Liberal state] divisions is responsible for its own world, if you like, when it comes to [candidate] selections". This is unlikely to cut it: she needs to have a view, and a strategy. Targets haven't worked. Four: Ley says she wants to run a constructive opposition, so how constructive will it be in the tax debate Treasurer Jim Chalmers launched this week? Ley might have a chat with John Howard about the 1980s, when the Liberals had internal arguments about whether to support or oppose some of the Hawke government's reform measures. Obviously, no total buy-in should be expected but to oppose reforms for the sake of it would discredit a party trying to sell its economic credentials. More generally, how constructive or obstructive will the opposition be in the Senate? This raises matters of principle, not just political opportunism. In the new Senate the government will have to negotiate on legislation with either the opposition or the Greens. If the opposition constantly forces Labor into the arms of the Greens, that could produce legislation that (from the Liberals' point of view) is worse than if the Liberals were Labor's partner. How does that sit with them philosophically? MORE FROM GRATTAN: Five: Finally, how active will Ley be in trying to drive improvements in the appalling Liberal state organisations, especially in NSW (her home state) and Victoria? The Liberals' federal executive extended federal intervention in the NSW division this week, with a new oversight committee, headed by onetime premier Nick Greiner. But the announcement spurred immediate backbiting, with conservatives seeing it advantaging the moderates. Ley is well across the NSW factions: her numbers man is Alex Hawke - whom she elevated to the shadow cabinet - from Scott Morrison's old centre-right faction, and she has a staffer from that faction in a senior position in her office. The faction has also protected her preselection in the past. In Victoria, the factional infighting has been beyond parody, with former leader John Pesutto scratching around for funds to avoid bankruptcy after losing a defamation case brought by colleague Moira Deeming. Some Liberals think the state party could even lose what should be the unlosable state election next year. That's just the start of the questions for Ley. Meanwhile, the party this week has set up an inquiry into the election disaster, to be conducted by former federal minister Nick Minchin and former NSW minister Pru Goward. Identifying what went wrong won't be hard for them - mostly, it was blindingly obvious. Recommending solutions that the party can and will implement - that will be the difficult bit.
