Latest news with #frontbench
News.com.au
5 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Natalie Barr asks Jane Hume if her demotion from the Liberal frontbench was 'payback' for her WFH policy
Dumped Liberal frontbencher Jane Hume has revealed she feels 'hurt' over her demotion but is preparing to 'straighten her tiara' and get on with the job. Appearing on Sunrise this morning, she has made her first public comments since her dumping emerged as the biggest shock of Liberal leader Sussan Ley's new frontbench. It followed a rocky campaign for Senator Hume who was seen as responsible for the loss of seats over her disastrous work from home policy that was dumped mid-campaign and her bizarre claim that Chinese spies were working at ALP polling booths. 'Do you think this was payback from Sussan Ley for the role you played in the work-from-home policy,'' Sunrise host Nat Barr asked this morning. 'Nat, if you're asking me whether I feel hurt or slighted by this move from Sussan, of course it hurts,'' Senator Hume said. '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 you know, Sussan and I are friends. This isn't the playground. 'This is the Parliament. I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to make a difference. I'm here to fight for the future of your kids, my kids, their kids for freedom and choice and personal responsibility and reward for effort and the importance of small business and the dangers of big government. 'I will continue to do that everyday from whatever position I am in. And, in fact, 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. 'That's certainly going to make for much more interesting Sunrise interviews. So, you're very lucky, I think.' Senator Hume then outlined the advice her mum always gave her when she experienced turbulence in life. '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,'' 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. Not only to win back the hearts and minds and votes of Australians but also to hold this terrible government to account and that's exactly what I am going to be doing everyday and every single one of my colleagues are going to be doing everyday.' It comes after Ms Ley shot down suggestions the decision to dump Senator Hume was a 'get square' for the moderate MP backing Angus Taylor. 'Absolutely not. I'm not going to reflect on the qualities of individuals with respect to the qualities of other individuals. I don't think that's a fair question,'' Ms Ley said. 'And I don't think the premise of it is reasonable. What I will repeat is that having spoken to every single member of my 54-member party room today, I know that we have harnessed the talent that we need in this shadow ministry going forward but that there is a role for every single person. 'Opposition is not about hierarchies. It's not about structure. It's about getting every player on the field, fighting the fight, because this is not about the internals you've spoken of. This is about how we go out there to work hard for the Australian people.' Deputy Liberal leader Ted O'Brien will take on the role of treasury spokesman while leadership aspirant Angus Taylor has been shifted from Shadow Treasurer to Defence. James Paterson has been promoted to the Coalition spokesman for finance, government services, and the public service. Future leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie, who had asked to move from defence into an economics or social services role, has been promoted to the spokesman for home affairs. Former Nationals leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack have been hit with demotions from the frontbench. Ley lashed over decision to dump four women As the dust settles from the shake-up, Liberals have pointed out there are now fewer women in the shadow cabinet than under Peter Dutton. There are now eight women in a 27-strong shadow cabinet - an enormous frontbench given the dwindling size of the opposition ranks in Parliament. By comparison, there were 11 women in Mr Dutton's 23-strong shadow cabinet prior to the election of Sussan Ley although a large number of new faces have been promoted to the outer ministry. 'I feel for Jane Hume, she's just collateral damage,'' a Liberal MP and supporter of Angus Taylor in the leadership ballot said. But Senator Hume's position is particularly curious, because while Mr Taylor's group believes she voted for him in the secret ballot, Ms Ley's supporters insist the moderate voted for her. A similar mystery has emerged over exactly who Senator Hume has voted for in previous ballots leading to questions over her factional allegiances. A regular on Channel 7's Sunrise, she angered colleagues during the election over her claim 'Chinese spies' were working at voting booths for the ALP along with the work from home debacle. She also emerged in 2022 and in 2025 as a potential candidate for the deputy leadership. 'We think Jane did vote for Sussan. It's not a punishment,'' a supporter of Ms Ley said. But other MPs claim that there was a falling out between the two women, amid claims Senator Hume had accused Ms Ley's faction of backgrounding against her. Peter Dutton spotted on a commercial flight Meanwhile a video of former Liberal leader Peter Dutton on a Qantas flight has emerged. In the video posted on TikTok, Mr Dutton is spotted giving some serious side eye to the person filming him. The footage was posted by Australian singer and songwriter Miss Kaninna.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Sussan Ley and David Littleproud need this frontbench lineup to heal Coalition wounds. It will be anything but easy
After what can only be described as an awful start to a new opposition term, Sussan Ley and David Littleproud stood side by side on Wednesday to name a new Coalition frontbench. Like an estranged couple who get back together after admitting what they really think of each other, the two leaders awkwardly sought to put their damaging but short-lived split behind them. But for both Ley and Littleproud, this early step was also a test of leadership, and showed up the deep divisions in both parties. Ley had to look after both her own supporters and those who backed Angus Taylor, the new shadow defence minister, in the tight Liberal leadership ballot. Littleproud had to force generational change in the Nationals, as he faces growing unhappiness and loose chatter of a challenge from former frontbenchers Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack. Ley said her choices reflect the full range of philosophical traditions, values and perspectives within the Coalition, and promised to harness her team's full 'intellectual and philosophical firepower'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Some of the appointments are promising. Julian Leeser returns as shadow attorney general, after quitting the frontbench over Peter Dutton's position on the voice to parliament. James Paterson and Andrew Hastie move to broaden their experience, taking on finance and home affairs respectively, while Tim Wilson returns to shadow cabinet in industrial relations. Angie Bell and Andrew Bragg both move up the ranks. Ley punted conservative diehards Sarah Henderson, Tony Pasin and Claire Chandler, and promoted up and comers Maria Kovacic and Zoe McKenzie. Promising talent including Aaron Violi missed out this time. For his part, Littleproud moved Joyce and McCormack on, talking up generation renewal while promoting Ross Cadell and Anne Webster. Liberal Jane Hume was among the biggest losers of Wednesday's announcement. Smart, capable and energetic, Hume paid the price for Dutton's work-from-home policy, a political stink bomb that went off just in time to alienate voters who thought their own flexible work arrangements were under threat. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion A former public servant herself, Ley promised to respect the bureaucracy as opposition leader. She said Hume would still have a lot to offer from the backbench. Similarly, Nationals defector Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's Doge portfolio is gone, and she is demoted out of shadow cabinet with defence industry and defence personnel. She angered both the Liberals and the Nationals by switching party rooms to run on Taylor's ticket, only to sit out the vote for deputy leader after he lost to Ley. More broadly, the Coalition is showing early signs of moving away from Trump-inspired policy, recognition of how badly links to the unpopular US president played for Dutton at the election. While we shouldn't expect a return to the Make Australia Great Again agenda anytime soon, Paterson is sure to be tough on wasteful spending in his new job in the finance portfolio. Immigration faces a Coalition reset too. Dan Tehan is moved to energy, and Queenslander Paul Scarr takes on managing overseas arrivals and international students. Scarr, a smart details-oriented lawyer, is expected to bring an economic focus to the portfolio, putting aside the culture wars of the past term. Net zero by 2050 policies will be an early test of any newfound Coalition harmony. Both parties are split on carbon emissions, even as Labor promises to use the next three or six years to push ahead with the transition to renewables. Leaders rarely win many friends in frontbench reshuffles. In addition to winning back millions of voters lost on 3 May, Ley and Littleproud need this lineup to heal party wounds and aid the long road back to relevance with voters. It will be anything but easy. Tom McIlroy is chief political correspondent for Guardian Australia
ABC News
7 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Jane Hume, Sarah Henderson dumped as Sussan Ley unveils shadow cabinet with David Littleproud
Sussan Ley has dumped Jane Hume from the Coalition frontbench and moved leadership rival Angus Taylor out of his role as shadow treasurer as part of a new-look opposition frontbench which also sees Jacinta Nampijinpa Price demoted. Ms Ley unveiled her shadow ministry on Wednesday alongside Nationals Leader David Littleproud, after the pair salvaged the alliance between their two parties. Liberal deputy Ted O'Brien will become the shadow treasurer and Mr Taylor will move to defence to replace Andrew Hastie, who will in turn take the home affairs portfolio from James Paterson. Senator Paterson will move to finance, the role previously held by Jane Hume who has been booted from the line-up. Ms Ley denied the move was politically motivated, given Senator Hume's support for Angus Taylor and criticism from colleagues about her handling of the work from home issue during the election campaign. "She is an enormously talented, fantastic member of this team who has contributed amazingly over her political career [and] will continue to do so," Ms Ley said. Fellow Victorian senator Sarah Henderson was also dumped from the frontbench, with Jonathon Duniam to take her education portfolio. Angie Bell shifts into environment, while Michaelia Cash will hold the foreign affairs portfolio and Dan Tehan will be responsible for energy. The new ministry sees several key backers of Sussan Ley rewarded, including Alex Hawke who returns to the frontbench in the industry portfolio, and prominent moderate Andrew Bragg who will be responsible for housing and productivity. But Senator Price has been moved out of the shadow cabinet after she ruffled feathers across the Coalition when she sensationally switched from the Nationals to the Liberals to run for the deputy position, which she ultimately did not do. Her new portfolio of defence industry will be in the outer shadow ministry. The Nationals leadership team of David Littleproud, Kevin Hogan and Bridget McKenzie will all hold their frontbench portfolios in agriculture, trade, and infrastructure. Susan McDonald will remain in the resources portfolio, while Darren Chester moves into the veterans portfolio to replace Barnaby Joyce, who moves with Michael McCormack to the backbench. Pat Conagahn will move into the outer ministry for the Nationals as shadow assistant treasurer. Matt Canavan, who challenged Mr Littleproud for the Nationals leadership after the election, does not have a portfolio. Four Liberals will join the frontbench, with Tim Wilson in employment, Kerrynne Liddle in social services and Indigenous affairs, Julian Leeser as shadow attorney-general, and James McGrath responsible for electoral matters and cities. Several women have been promoted into assistant or outer portfolios, including Melissa Price in science, Zoe McKenzie in education and mental health, Leah Blyth in families, and Maria Kovacic in family violence. Gisele Kapterian will hold an assistant role in the communications portfolio if she is elected to the seat of Bradfield. Scott Buchholz moves into the outer ministry in the skills portfolio, as does Jason Wood in the Pacific portfolio. Conservatives Claire Chandler and Tony Pasin have lost their assistant spots, while Dave Sharma will be assistant spokesperson for competition and treasury. Aaron Violi, Garth Hamilton and Simon Kennedy are among those who were considered in the frame for assistant roles but missed out. Ms Ley said every Coalition MP and senator had "a role to play, even if they are not formally in the line-up" but said the leadership team "draws on a deep well of Australian experience... Our team is one of strivers and optimists, of leaders and listeners... "The new Coalition shadow ministry balances experiences with new talent. It reflects the full range of our philosophical traditions, values and perspectives across our two great party rooms."
News.com.au
7 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Coalition backflip could doom Jacinta Price
The divorce is over. Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud have reached an in-principle agreement to rejoin the Coalition. Just a week after the issue spectacularly blew up, the Nationals partyroom has agreed to rejoin the Liberal Party. As a result, Sussan Ley is contacting Coalition MPs this morning to inform them if they will form part of her new frontbench. But the biggest loser is expected to be Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who defected from the Nationals and may be moved to the outer ministry. The Nationals' decision to rejoin the Coalition frontbench guarantees frontline roles for three leaders, David Littleproud, Kevin Hogan and Bridget McKenzie. If she had stayed, Senator Price would have been expected to secure the role of deputy and a frontbench role. Deputy Liberal leader Ted O'Brien has been expected to take on the role of treasury spokesman. Former Treasury spokesman and leadership aspirant Angus Tayor is expected to take on foreign affairs or defence. The expectation is that James Paterson will remain in the foreign affairs-defence-national security space.
News.com.au
23-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Michael McCormack keeps door open to Nationals leadership comeback
Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack has refused to rule out a return to the leadership, adding he would be foolish to run 'a red line' through the idea. The former deputy prime minister, who Mr Littleproud recently dumped from the Nationals proposed frontbench, has told he backed the current leadership team. But he said it would be silly to rule out ever returning to the leadership in the future amid the utter chaos in Coalition ranks. 'Oh, it depends under what circumstances,'' he told 'I'm not going to return to the leadership, I'm not gonna put my name up there just to be knocked off or make a gig in myself. I wouldn't do that.' A gig, as defined by Eton slang, is a foolish person or an odd person. Amid reports that Nationals MPs Barnaby Joyce has privately suggested Mr McCormack should return to sort out the Coalition mess, he admitted journalists ask him 'all the time.' 'I mean, it would be stupid to actually draw a red line in your name forever more because you never know,'' Mr McCormack said. 'Politics is very fluid, and particularly in modern politics, where things just happen very, very quickly. 'I mean, why would you just, why would you say, 'I'm never, ever going to lead the National Party again?.' 'Because the next moment, something calamitous might happen, and you might be the one that they call on, and then all of a sudden, you and then, of course, they bring out the footage or the quote of you saying. 'That's all on the record, I don't do off the record,'' he added. A former journalist, Mr McCormack has a huge Elvis Presley fan and sometimes performs himself in Elvis regalia. But it was all work and no play when he was Nationals leader the first time around. 'I mean, I've had three great years as the leader of the National Party in government,'' Mr McCormack said. 'We got a lot of stuff done. We had, we had everything thrown at us, bush fires, floods, cyclones, Covid-19. 'But look, you know, David's the leader. I supported him in the leadership ballot.' Mr McCormack has cryptically declared he is 'ambitious' for his party's leader David Littleproud, echoing Scott Morrison's comments about Malcolm Turnbull during the final days of his government. 'I'm ambitious for him,' McCormack told ABC Radio Canberra when asked his support for Mr Littleproud. 'It's been messy, it's been really messy and for people on the outside looking in, they just wonder what the hell is going on.' Asked about the remarks, he admitted they were a 'tongue in cheek' reference to Scott Morrison. 'It's my dry sense of humour,'' he laughed. 'Besides, I mean, you realise, I mean, he's taken me off the front bench and, okay, that's his prerogative,'' he said in relation to David Littleproud's leadership. 'But, you know, you gotta, you can't all be, I mean, honestly, you can't all be just boring and straight bat everything. And again, you got to give sort of some red meat to the journos. 'I think there's been fault from a few areas in this whole messy process, and there have been missteps. There's no question about that.' Warning on 'crying wolf' Mr McCormack said that Mr Littleproud was working to do a deal with the Liberals on four key areas. 'He would consider that a victory of sorts, I suppose,'' he said. 'But the trouble is, what happens next time there's a die in the ditch issue for the Nationals? And let me tell you, knowing the Nationals, that won't be far away, you know, somebody will, will say something else. 'And then where do you go there? It's like, it's, you know, it's, you can't then threaten to blow up the Coalition again, because you look like the boy that cried wolf.' Barnaby Joyce and the 'spiv' Another Nationals dismissed the latest rumblings suggesting that Matt Canavan had about four leadership votes and suggesting if Barnaby Joyce swapped to Michael McCormack he would have 'about five.' 'Barnaby hates David Littleproud. He thinks he's a little spiv,'' the Nationals MP said. Liberal leader Sussan Ley is expected to win the support of her party room to offer in-principle support to the Nationals' demands to lock in support for nuclear power amid accusations she had 'a gun to her head.' Liberals powwow As the Nationals and the Coalition attempt to heal their divisions after their 'split' announced earlier this week, party elders are urging Nationals leader David Littleproud to sort out the mess. But the commitment to nuclear power will extend to a simple commitment to remove the legal ban on nuclear energy in Australia at a minimum, with a review of the remaining policy going forward. As such, it is a significantly watered-down version of Peter Dutton's plan to build multiple nuclear power plants across Australia, an idea former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had described as 'crazy'. None of those ideas are likely to become law anytime soon, which the Coalition – which announced they were splitting this week – now reduced to a rump even if they agree to come back together. The second commitment the Nationals sought was agreement on the $20 Billion Regional Australia Future Fund, which will include a $1 billion annual budget allocation until the Fund is matured and able to draw down at least $1 billion per year. The third was an agreement on court-ordered divestiture powers for major supermarkets and 'big box' retailers. The final demand was Universal Service Obligation reforms to broaden the minimum standards to include mobile tower infrastructure and reception, repair time frames and expectations and minimum voice and internet standards. 'A fight about nothing' Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is accusing the Nationals of 'holding a gun to [the] head' of the Liberal Party over a 'fight about nothing' given none of the ideas will be legislated anytime soon. 'Policies are of academic interest only until such time as we get close to an election … This is a fight about nothing,'' he said. 'They've just done enormous harm for no purpose at all, the Nationals, by blowing it up in this way. 'It's really, really unwise [and] stupid politically. The National Party is treating the Liberal Party with zero respect and trying to stand over them, and if Sussan Ley goes along with it … everybody will be saying this is just another case of the tail wagging the dog.' The Nationals were now 'holding a gun to the Liberal Party's head', he said. He described nuclear power as a 'truly crazy idea' but he added that agreeing to end a moratorium was acceptable given there was 'no prospect of anyone in the private sector ever building a nuclear power plant here'. 'The anger-tainment ecosystem in which the right wing of politics exists nowadays, they got what they wanted. They got Peter Dutton as the leader and they got control of the party, and they have burned it to the ground,' he said. The Liberals and Nationals' first attempt at reconciliation arrived just two days after their bombshell break-up and has delayed the announcement of the Liberals frontbench. Former Liberal minister Richard Colebeck said a lot of Liberals were 'really cranky having a gun held to our heads'. 'It's just a huge frustration that we as a party have been put in this situation,' he said. 'Having said that, we all recognise the value of being in a Coalition. But there's a way to go about that and the way the Nationals have, it's just not the way.'
