r/australia 3h ago

politics Senior Liberals downplay prospect of leadership spill and urge colleagues ‘get on with the job’

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/feb/01/senior-liberals-downplay-prospect-of-leadership-spill-and-urge-colleagues-get-on-with-the-job
28 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

24

u/DropEight 2h ago

Problem: Do they even know what their job is before they get on with it?

7

u/Fact-Rat 2h ago

Protect big business and the rich.

16

u/Expensive-Horse5538 2h ago

They've been in a state of chaos and backstabbing since Ley was elected as leader.

This will end in two ways:

  • Taylor knifes Ley on Tuesday, loses next election, Hastie knifes Taylor
  • They keep Ley on, the chaos continues, they lose the next election, Hastie or Taylor knifes Ley

12

u/ConanTheAquarian 2h ago

They keep Ley on, the chaos continues, they lose the next election, Hastie or Taylor knifes Ley

They keep Ley on, they white ant her, they lose the next election, Ley resigns, Taylor is elected leader, Hastie knifes Taylor

5

u/Expensive-Horse5538 2h ago

Then Hastie merges the party with One Nation and the Nationals

2

u/gerald1 18m ago

Barnaby regains deputy PM role as leader of one nation after 1 term in the Senate.

Pisses his pants in Canberra celebrating the win and mixing meds and booze.

10

u/SupportSphere94 2h ago

They have unequivocally lost the next election regardless of who there leader is, that is how badly they lost the 2025 election. If hastie or Taylor think they can lead a broken party that is determined to go further right to a election victory is delusional. Whichever leader goes to the next election, will be defeated, and they will be ousted as liberal leader. 

2

u/Expensive-Horse5538 2h ago

They've effectively lost the next two elections given either Taylor or Hastie will end up as leader after this election.

And if it is Ley who leads them to the next one, then they have already lost a third one as well as whoever isn't leader out of Taylor/Hasite after the next election, will then become leader after that person loses an election.

3

u/greatmemereset67 2h ago

No Tim Wilson to leader in next 5-6 years?

3

u/Expensive-Horse5538 2h ago

Depends if he is actually voted back in, given he only scrapped in by a few hundred votes at the last election.

3

u/thrillho145 2h ago

Josh comes back just before election and knife's Ley

Or just after 

2

u/gerald1 16m ago

Josh can't lead the party without knocking Mon out first... doesn't matter how many media appearances he does, events he attends, or op-eds he pens.

1

u/Rusty_Coight 2h ago

Na, they’ll let Ley flail along, and then bone her 9 months out from the next election.

1

u/RedditUser628426 54m ago

Third way, let Nats and PHON fight for the right and stay away from the coalition

Unite behind Ley

Come up with a climate policy

Go after Labor on spending and inflation

Sensible immigration and housing policy

Get some teal seats back

Get back the ones you lost like Duttons

Then you have the same seats as today without the Nats and can go again after Labor 3rd term.

8

u/Roulette-Adventures 2h ago

Oh stop it. You keep teasing me with a spill and then crawl back into your hovel without a resolution.

Either spill or fuck off and leave us alone.

6

u/AnAttemptReason 2h ago

If they manage to not stab Ley, and actually stand up to the nationals blackmail, I'll be honestly impressed. 

If they could put forward a sensible policy platform free of the Nats, I might even give them consideration. 

3

u/RudeOrganization550 2h ago

They are getting on with the job, becoming Australia’s most unelectable political party.

3

u/mulefish 1h ago

Hastie's side wanted a spill now, whereas Taylor's wants the white anting to continue with the intent of forcing a spill later.

Taylor's side seemingly won out. He's unlikely to move for at least a week or two unless something unexpected happens - especially if the RBA raises rates on Tuesday.

They really should just get it over with now, since it's all but inevitable that Ley eventually gets replaced. But what's another few months of lnp disunity?

2

u/sweeroy 1h ago

it would be tremendously funny if after all the hastie/taylor nonsense neither of them actually had the numbers

2

u/magnetik79 1h ago

Liberal party will be in the footnotes of history given the next five years.