Dumped senator vows to 'straighten tiara', move forward

Perth Now

3 days ago

Liberal senator Jane Hume has vowed to straighten her tiara and get on with the job after being dumped from shadow cabinet by the opposition leader.
The Victorian senator was the highest profile demotion when Sussan Ley unveiled her leadership team earlier this week.
It came after Senator Hume wore some of the internal blame for the Liberals' disastrous election result after spearheading an unpopular return to work policy blamed for alienating women voters.
The coalition was forced to drop the proposal to force public service workers back into the office mid-election campaign after severe backlash.
"Of course it hurts," Senator Hume told Seven's Sunrise on Friday.
"It hurts professionally because I was a hard-working and prolific and high profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition.
"It hurts personally too because Sussan and I are friends."
But Senator Hume vowed to continue the fight from the backbench and speak her mind as she was no longer bound by the need to toe the party line as a member of the shadow ministry.
"There is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points," she said.
"The most important thing we can all do here now is get behind Sussan Ley, put our shoulders to the wheel because there's a very big task ahead of us.
"As my very wise mother would say, 'stop your nonsense, chin up, chest out, straighten your tiara and let's get on with the job'."
Ms Ley has said Senator Hume was an excellent performer and still had a lot to give to the party regardless of what position she held.
Two other prominent conservative Liberal senators, Claire Chandler and Sarah Henderson, were also dumped from shadow cabinet by Ms Ley in a shakeup from the Peter Dutton era.
Outspoken senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who sent shockwaves across the coalition when she defected from the National party room to join the Liberals in an ill-fated attempt to run for deputy leader, was also demoted.
Senator Nampijinpa Price has been relegated to the outer ministry from cabinet after stirring controversy during the election campaign by mimicking US President Donald Trump's slogan when she pledged to "make Australian great again".
It came at a time when the Liberals were trying to distance themselves from the US president's actions.
Liberal moderates and political allies were rewarded by Ms Ley with promotions to the shadow cabinet and outer ministry.
Shadow cabinet is made up of a delicate factional balance that also takes into consideration state representation and a Senate-lower house balance from within the cohort of MPs vying for seats.