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The Guardian
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
If Jacinta Nampijinpa Price becomes Liberal deputy it will be a wild ride for the party – and whoever is leader
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's confirmation she will run for Liberal deputy has put the members of an already shell-shocked party into a new spin. Tuesday's leadership contest, where the numbers are said to be tight, is a battle for the direction of the party as much as one between the two personalities. It's essentially a contest between the moderates and the conservatives. Sussan Ley, deputy for the past three years, carries the flag for the moderates (although she is aligned to the old Scott Morrison faction, which is led by Alex Hawke, one-time Morrison numbers man). Her opponent, Angus Taylor, who's been shadow treasurer, leads the conservatives. Neither Ley nor Taylor has impressed during the last term, but that's become beside the point. Taylor has embraced the ambitious Price, who has defected (amid great bitterness) from the Nationals, to boost his support as part of a joint ticket. Whether the combination will work for or against Taylor's chances remains to be seen. There are fears in the Ley camp it may attract some undecideds, but it possibly could frighten off others. Price was elevated spectacularly to national prominence as the most effective 'no' campaigner against the voice. She is forceful and articulate, and the conservative base of the Coalition loves her. But leaving aside the complication that she's a senator, her performance in the voice campaign doesn't automatically translate into qualifications for deputy, which, if done properly, is a demanding, multi-faceted job. The Liberal deputy needs deep roots in the party, not having just arrived in controversial circumstances. They have to do a lot of work with the party organisation, not just the parliamentary party. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email In the latter, the deputy is there in part to protect the leader's back and to keep track of the mood of colleagues, which requires having longstanding relationships of familiarity and trust with them. Some would argue the ideal deputy is a person who does not have their eyes on the leadership, which Price clearly has. The deputy needs a broad grasp of policy areas, because they will be a high-profile public spokesperson for the party, and will be hit with questions on every issue that's running. The deputy also has to be comfortable with media across the spectrum, because that's part of the job. Price's natural home has been on Sky News. On Sunday, she appeared on Sky's highly opinionated program Outsiders. If the Liberals are to get themselves back into shape, they must seek to regain their appeal in the urban areas that went teal in 2022, and to women. Indeed, they have to tap into professional women in those places. It is unlikely Price, unless she undergoes a major political makeover, would be attractive to that constituency. In their bid for the support of women, the Liberals need a root-and-branch debate about how to get more female candidates, but Price is already totally against quotas. If Price becomes deputy it will be a wild ride for the party – and for its leader. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Other names mooted as possible deputies are Dan Tehan, from Victoria, who's been immigration spokesperson, and Queenslander Ted O'Brien, the energy spokesperson. Either would be less fraught for the party than Price. O'Brien would have the problem of being welded on to the nuclear policy, which will be at least overhauled and perhaps ditched by the Liberals. Ley is set to have a running mate, but the name has not yet been disclosed. Another option would be for the loser out of Ley and Taylor to become deputy. Awkward, but perhaps the cleanest way forward. Ley is used to the role; Taylor would be entitled to stay shadow treasurer and would be at the centre of things (what things are left). In the Nationals, the leadership contest – to be decided Monday – is also a battle over identity. The Nationals under David Littleproud held almost all their seats at the election but one-time resources minister Matt Canavan – a Barnaby Joyce supporter back in the day – says they need a new direction. Critical to his pitch are energy and climate issues. The Nationals signed up reluctantly to net zero emissions by 2050 in the Morrison prime ministership, when Joyce was leader (although he indicated he personally didn't favour doing so). They were dragged to the deal with great reluctance. Canavan, who is a senator, said in his leadership pitch, 'We should scrap the futile and unachievable goal of net zero emissions by 2050. Net zero makes everything more expensive and it is not helping the environment given that the US, China and India are no longer even paying lip service to it.' Littleproud, describing the challenge as 'healthy for our democracy', is favoured to see off the Canavan bid. Regardless, it is a reminder the Nationals remain a divided party, as they have been for years. Michelle Grattan is a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra This article was originally published in The Conversation
Telegraph
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Green Party is a sinister mob. Take it from me, a former deputy leader
After the resignation of Carla Denyer, the Green Party is facing a leadership contest for which the membership has had their opportunity for genuine debate about its policy platform and electoral priorities artificially restricted. No activist or spokesperson who dares to stand up for the rights and protections of women, girls and children – especially, in the context of a decade of trans rights overreach – will escape the wrath of the totalitarian mob within. I should know. In 2024, I won a landmark gender critical protected belief discrimination case against the Party, the first of its kind in politics, after I was unlawfully removed as front bench spokesperson for justice. But let's start with the positives. It's true the Green Party has made progress in recent years. When I served as deputy leader, we managed to get 1 million votes in the 2015 general election. In 2024, under today's leadership, we achieved nearly 2 million votes and quadrupled our number of MPs to four. Year on year, we've increased our councillor share, too. Yet these gains have been snail's pace compared to the seismic shifts in political landscape precipitated by the Farage machine. On Brexit, we lost the argument and the referendum. Devoid of either introspection or serious analysis, our then leaders resorted to writing off 52 per cent of the electorate as xenophobic or easily duped. Last week, Reform gained control of ten councils, dwarfing our own electoral achievements. Not content with marginalising 52 per cent of voters, Green politicians have sought to alienate another 51 per cent. That's the logical consequence of a political movement which resorts to identitarian flag-waving and is in thrall to queer theory luxury beliefs. In the days following the Supreme Court judgment, the Green Party leadership demonstrated utter contempt for the rights and protections of women and girls. On BBC's Any Questions, parliamentarian Siân Berry – who prides herself with having a science background – described sex in humans as 'not entirely binary'. On BBC Radio 4's Today, Co-Leader Adrian Ramsay refused to answer Nick Robinson's direct question, 'Are Transwomen Women?' four times. The view that trans women are women has been the policy of the Greens since 2016. It offers up a Stonewall campaign slogan as a literal truth, and conflates sex and gender identity. For his refusal to pronounce this holy dogma, officers of the Young Greens rewarded him with calls for his resignation. The trio of car-crash interviews was completed by Carla Denyer who, following an appearance on BBC Sunday with Laura Kuennsberg, went viral for all the wrong reasons. She claimed that 'non-trans lesbian women' would be prohibited by the ruling from allowing 'trans lesbians', i.e. men, into their spaces. There is no such thing as a male lesbian, and a space set up for same-sex attracted women is not for men. These rights for women are protected under the Equality Act. The trouble with Denyer's resignation is it leaves the door open for an even more fanatical successor. With Carla, perhaps especially when she was on the ropes in an interview, you could still tell what she was thinking. For good or ill, that transparency helped electors decide, while others in the party feel they can get away with avoiding tough interviews or concealing what they really think. Denyer's Deputy, Zack Polanski, who reportedly once set himself up as a hypnotherapist for breast enlargement, has recently launched his campaign to be Leader. I would challenge him on how a party can remain credible for telling the truth on climate science but continue to tell lies about what constitutes a biological woman. The Party is so negligent about equality law, they've retained gender self-identification as a criterion for eligibility to satisfy quotas for the leadership contest I've long advocated for speaking and engaging with electors and politicians with whom we may strongly disagree. I regard it as fundamental to democratic politics that we should seek to persuade those not already won over to our policy proposals. The opposite betrays a deeply cynical approach to human beings, in which we have nothing to learn, even from those whom we would presume to govern. Government without consent descends into totalitarianism. Not content to find themselves on the wrong side of a claim for unlawful discrimination against me, the Green Party is looking at a second lawsuit. I currently find myself excluded by the Green Party following a series of complaints all premised on my belief that sex is real. Greens who share my temperament have been kicked out of the Party. Currently in exile, we may be disqualified from standing for leadership, but we do retain our resolve for a better kind of politics. The Green Party only claims to do politics differently. By God, they do, but not in a good way.
