Claire Chandler resigns from frontbench
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Guardian Australia understands Claire Chandler, the shadow minister for science and cybersecurity, has resigned from her frontbench position.
The conservative senator is the first to follow Angus Taylor over to the backbench ahead of a leadership spill.
We expect more Taylor allies to resign as well today.
Key events
We could be ‘so much better than this’ Chandler releases resignation video
Claire Chandler has released a video to social media explaining her resignation from the frontbench.
The now former shadow minister for science and cyber security, says she’s been contacted by members of the public saying the Liberal party has “let them down”.
She doesn’t directly criticise Sussan Ley personally but says the opposition has been “obsessed” talking about itself and that it could be better.
In recent weeks I’ve been contacted every day by Tasmanians by Australians who feel the liberal party has let them down. They don’t see an opposition that is tackling the Albanese government head on and holding them accountable for their failures, they just seen an opposition that is obsessed with talking about itself.
I know that the Liberal party is capable of so much better than this but in recent days I’ve come to the view that that’s not going to happen under the current leadership.
Jane Hume to nominate as deputy leader
Former shadow finance minister, Jane Hume will put her hand up for the deputy when a leadership spill is called.
Guardian Australia has confirmed Hume spoke to current deputy leader, Ted O’Brien, on the phone last night.
A Liberal source confirmed the Victorian moderate senator has also been canvassing colleagues overnight.
It’s understood Hume would not run on a ticket with Angus Taylor, and would run regardless of who wins the leadership ballot.
Earlier this morning, conservative senator Sarah Henderson backed Hume for the position.
Hume’s not the only name that’s been thrown up so far, Dan Tehan and Zoe McKenzie have also been mentioned as potential deputy candidates but both are on the frontbench so would have to resign to do so.
One Nation ‘needs to be taken seriously’: Albanese
Anthony Albanese says the rise in One Nation’s popularity is due to “frustration” from the public over the cost of living.
One Nation recorded a 27% primary vote in the latest Newspoll, eclipsing the Coalition on just 18%, and just behind Labor on 33%.
Earlier this week, several Liberals called the polls “middle finger voting” against the Liberal and National parties.
Albanese, speaking to Adelaide 5AA radio, said the minor right wing party are all talk and no action.
One Nation have played a divisive role in Australian politics over a long period of time. They identify what they see as issues and don’t come up with solutions. Now, the fact that their vote has risen means that it needs to be taken seriously.
What it signals to me is that there are many people who are frustrated with the existing system, and that’s understandable, given that there are real cost of living pressures there, and that’s why we’re acting on cost of living.
‘I’m disappointed for him’: Wallace
Andrew Wallace is continuing his support tour for Sussan Ley this morning, telling ABC RN Breakfast he’s “disappointed” for Angus Taylor and for the party after he resigned to the backbench yesterday ahead of a leadership spill.
Wallace says again that Ley “absolutely” hasn’t been given a chance to lead, and that disunity is death for the party.
He says he still believes Ley could have the support from the party room to withstand a challenge.
Angus is a friend of mine. I’m disappointed for him. I’m disappointed for us. Australians want to see their opposition, no matter how much they may vote for us or not vote for us, they want to see a strong opposition because they know that a government is only as good as its opposition.
I’m not going to go into numbers there but I do believe that she has that majority.
Sarah Henderson backs in Angus Taylor, says Ley is ‘done’
Conservative Victorian senator Sarah Henderson, one of Sussan Ley’s most vocal critics in the party, says the Liberals face a wipeout without a leadership change.
She argues the party needs a “credible set” of policies and says most of the policies taken to the last election, where the Liberals suffered a crushing defeat, should not have been abandoned – including policies she put forward as the then shadow education minister.
Henderson was sent to the backbench after the election but says she expects more of her conservative frontbench colleagues and Taylor allies to quit today.
Asked if Ley is “done”, she tells ABC News Breakfast:
I think she is [done].
It is very difficult time for the Liberal party. This is not easy, to change leader, but at a primary vote of 18% would wipe out most members in the House of Representatives and we owe it to the Australian people to be a credible opposition.
We have been going backwards at a rate of knots and had a terrible election loss but since then we have abandoned all of our policies.
Henderson also puts her support behind Jane Hume as a deputy leader, saying she has a “wonderful track record”.
While Hume is a moderate, the Victorian senator is also an ally of Angus Taylor.
Claire Chandler resigns from frontbench
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Guardian Australia understands Claire Chandler, the shadow minister for science and cybersecurity, has resigned from her frontbench position.
The conservative senator is the first to follow Angus Taylor over to the backbench ahead of a leadership spill.
We expect more Taylor allies to resign as well today.
McCarthy threatens pulling funding levers on states on Close the Gap outcomes
Malarndirri McCarthy says there are funding levers the government could pull to put more pressure on the states to improve on Closing the Gap outcomes.
McCarthy has mentioned her willingness to do this in recent months, and adds that the states and territories need to consider improving laws to reduce Indigenous incarceration.
We have levers that we can pull and I know that through the Northern Territory Remote Area Investment, the NTRA, that is certainly an agreement between the commonwealth and the Northern Territory where I have pushed for those levers to be looked at.
Host Isabella Higgins asks why so many of the Closing the Gap targets are going backwards when governments have been working on this for 18 years.
McCarthy says that the Closing the Gap agreement was re-signed in 2020, and there’s another five years before time runs out.
So we are halfway through that and we see this expiring in 2031. So we have another five years to really get to the end of this and hopefully close that gap. And that is our aim.
‘Many moments of frustration,’ McCarthy says on NT incarcerations
The minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, is speaking to media this morning ahead of the prime minister making the annual Closing the Gap statement.
Speaking to ABC AM radio, she’s asked if she is frustrated by the Northern Territory, a state she represents, winding back royal commission recommendations around youth incarceration of Indigenous children.
McCarthy says there have been “many, many moments of frustration” and that she has been talking to the chief minister about the rate of incarceration and deaths in custody.
There are certainly many, many moments of frustration. There is no doubt about that. Not just with the Northern Territory, there are other jurisdictions that we continually need to work with.
But the NT specifically, I’ve reached out directly to the chief minister, I have raised directly the concerns around the incarceration rates, but also the deaths in custody that we’ve had in the last 12 months, really, in the NT in particular.
Wong appoints special envoy over methanol poisoning deaths of two Australians in Laos
Penny Wong has appointed a special envoy to pursue the deaths of Australian citizens Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones from methanol poisoning in Laos.
It emerged this week that 10 people linked to the hostel where the two teenagers were poisoned were fined $185.
Pablo Kang, the new special envoy, will depart for Laos this week to “explore all avenues to progress the case”. He has previously served as ambassador to Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates and high commissioner to Vanuatu.
Wong says that the government has clear to authorities “of the need for transparency and accountability”.
Wong said:
We have consistently conveyed our expectations that charges should reflect the seriousness of the tragedy that killed Holly, Bianca and four other foreign nationals.
We understand the heartbreaking grief of the families of Holly and Bianca, which has been exacerbated by the delays and lack of transparency over the legal processes in Laos.
‘Leadership change won’t fix them’: Treasurer
Jim Chalmers has also stopped by the House of Reps doors – and you know that he’s a keen bean to do so because he actually has a separate ministerial entrance that he would normally go through.
Tbh the treasurer sounds a little out of breath but tells journalists that the Liberal party is a “shambles”.
We might hear a little more of this line at question time this afternoon.
I’m focused on the numbers in the budget, not the focus, not the numbers in the party room. Obviously, they’re a shambles from top to bottom, and a leadership change won’t fix them.
‘I like Angus, no problem with Ley’, Hogan says
The doors are back my friends! Let me briefly walk you through the wonderful tradition of journalists staking out the Senate and House of Representatives entrances where we try to stop pollies and ask them questions on their way in.
Of course, some will come through the doors knowing exactly what they want to say to journalists (and are eagerly awaiting a microphone being brandished in their face), while others try to avoid the whole thing entirely and either shuffle their way quickly through, heads down, or find another entrance.
This morning the deputy Nationals leader, Kevin Hogan, has passed judgment on the Liberal leadership race – while simultaneously saying that he won’t.
He starts with:
I don’t think it’s appropriate for me as the Nationals to comment on division in the Liberal party or comment on leadership in the Liberal party.
But then, when asked whether he likes Angus Taylor, seems to make a bit of a judgment call on who he prefers personally between the two.
I know Angus. I respect Angus. He has great intellect and I like Angus. Having said that, I have no personal problem with Sussan Ley either.
Potential leadership challenge ‘undercooked, ill prepared’: Wallace
Andrew Wallace is out to bat for Sussan Ley again this morning (in what would be a pretty tight interview turnaround after appearing on Sky News late last night).
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning, Wallace says that Ley hasn’t been given a proper chance as leader to succeed. Yesterday other allies said it would be right to allow Ley at least give the budget reply in May as leader.
Like Ley told colleagues at Tuesday’s party room meeting, Wallace says that “disunity is death”, and adds that, at a time when the Liberal party is trying to chase female voters, knifing the first female leader is probably not a great look.
I think this, this leadership challenge, if it ends up being that, has been undercooked. I think it’s been unprepared or ill prepared. I think Sussan has the numbers. I think that the majority of the party room believe that Susan hasn’t been given a fair go,
I quite honestly believe that Sussan hasn’t been afforded a reasonable opportunity to succeed, and I want to back her in and make sure that she does, so that we can continue to take the fight up to Labor.
Sussan, of course, is our first female leader. I think it sends a bad message to Australians.
Good morning
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for the final sitting day of the week – and perhaps Sussan Ley’s last sitting day as the leader of the opposition.
After weeks (if not months) of speculation, Angus Taylor finally pulled the trigger last night by announcing his resignation from the frontbench. Some of his close allies in the conservative faction will likely follow him today.
Senate estimates continues and, while the heat’s been on the opposition more than the government this week, we’ll bring you everything you need to know from there.
And as Martin mentioned earlier, the prime minister will deliver his Closing the Gap speech later this morning.
It’s going to be another busy one, stay with us!
Andrew Wallace says dumping Ley would be ‘unacceptable’
The shadow attorney general, Andrew Wallace, was sticking with Sussan Ley and argued that deposing the party’s first-ever female leader after only nine months in the job would be a mistake.
“To effectively knife the Liberal party’s first female leader in under a year is, in my view, unacceptable,” he told Sky New’s Sharri program on Wednesday night.
Unsurprisingly, Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price took the opposite view and was straight on to Team Taylor. She told Sky News:
If we do not make this change, we will be wiped out at the next federal election. We are in a dire situation.
Read our news story here:
Liberals weigh in on leadership spill
Television studios had a revolving door for Liberal party talking heads last night as they had their say about Angus Taylor’s resignation and the expected leadership spill.
The outgoing shadow defence minister stopped short of announcing a challenge to Sussan Ley but it is likely to come today or tomorrow according to observers as he lines up the votes to be sure of winning.
As he brings his attack from the right, he will have to bring on board some of the more centrist MPs who voted against him when he ran against Ley after the 2025 election defeat.
Moderate MP Tim Wilson said last night he continued to back Ley’s leadership but left himself room for manoeuvre.
“I have said consistently that I expect leadership, and I expect leadership to drive a vision for the future of the country. I expect leadership to define who we are as a political movement,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 program.
“I’ve seen her consistently show a steely resolve despite National party separations, terrorist attacks, an unrelenting assault by Anthony Albanese and his bully boys on the frontbench who have tried at every point to knock her about.”
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji to pick up the slack.
Angus Taylor’s resignation from the shadow cabinet last night is expected to leave Sussan Ley facing a leadership spill today or tomorrow. We will have all the news as and when it happens.
Anthony Albanese makes his annual Closing The Gap speech to parliament today in which he will call out the “white supremacy ideology” behind the alleged bombing attempt at the Perth Invasion Day rally. More details coming up and we will cover the speech when the PM stands up later.
Another key event will be Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit to Melbourne today. He is due to meet senior politicians and community leaders and there is expected to be a protest against his visit at Flinders Street later in the afternoon.
