\n<\/p>\n
Sussan Ley\u2019s allies want the Liberal leader to demand her rivals put their names to a petition calling for a spill, forcing Angus Taylor\u2019s backers<\/a> to publicly reveal themselves as plotting to oust her.<\/p>\n The push was discussed in private talks on Tuesday and has echoes of the tactic then-Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull used to stall Peter Dutton\u2019s ultimately failed leadership coup in 2018.<\/p>\n Sources close to Ley said the leader was not considering demanding the names given Taylor was still yet to declare his intentions.<\/p>\n Speculation is mounting that Taylor will resign from shadow cabinet on Wednesday afternoon to launch a leadership challenge on Friday morning at the latest.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/sub><\/a><\/p>\n Under Liberal party<\/a> conventions, MPs can request the leader call a special party room meeting to consider a motion to spill the leadership.<\/p>\n A group of Ley\u2019s supporters \u2013 including leading moderates \u2013 want her to insist that Taylor\u2019s supporters put their names to a petition to prove they have sufficient support for a challenge.<\/p>\n In a blunt message to Taylor\u2019s backers, the New South Wales senator and leading moderate, Maria Kovacic, told the ABC\u2019s Afternoon Briefing program: \u201cIf you want this, put your name to it and get it over with.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need \u2026 to have those individuals be very transparent about why it is that they want a spill, and that they want that spill,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re being accountable, put your name to it. I think we\u2019ve all had enough of what\u2019s been going on over the past couple of months. It has spiralled out of control in the last few days, and enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Another Ley supporter, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Guardian Australia that \u201ccowardice cannot be tolerated\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThose that want to support the greatest act of misogyny in recent times cannot be allowed to hide in the shadows of the party room,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n The MP said colleagues were \u201cbemused\u201d that Taylor and fellow frontbenchers James Paterson and Jonno Duniam hadn\u2019t resigned from Ley\u2019s senior leadership team, given the trio of right-wingers attended secret <\/a>talks last month to discuss if Taylor or Andrew Hastie would challenge Ley.<\/p>\n In 2018, Turnbull demanded that Dutton\u2019s<\/a> supporters present him with the names of the majority of the party room before convening a second meeting of the week to consider a spill.<\/p>\n Dutton secured the 43 names but ended up losing a subsequent leadership ballot to Scott Morrison.<\/p>\n Ley did not face a spill motion at Tuesday morning\u2019s Liberal party room meeting.<\/p>\n A spill motion was always considered unlikely given senators were not expected to attend due to estimates hearings.<\/p>\n However, some upper house MPs were present at the closed-door meeting, including the Victorian backbencher Jane Hume.<\/p>\n After warning on Monday that the party would be \u201cwiped out\u201d without an urgent change in direction, Hume directly challenged Ley at Tuesday\u2019s meeting to outline how she planned to turn things around.<\/p>\n In response, Ley told the room words to the effect of \u201cdisunity is death\u201d, according to two Liberal MPs present at the meeting.<\/p>\n Hume is a moderate but supported the conservative Taylor in last year\u2019s leadership ballot against Ley, infuriating her factional allies and contributing to her sacking from shadow cabinet.<\/p>\n The former shadow finance minister, who worked closely with Taylor when he was Peter Dutton\u2019s shadow treasurer, has been mentioned as a candidate for deputy leader if Taylor wins the leadership.<\/p>\n Taylor\u2019s supporters are adamant the 59-year-old has the numbers to win the leadership this week, arguing Ley\u2019s position was untenable after the latest Newspoll showed the Coalition\u2019s primary vote has collapsed to 18% \u2013 nine percentage points behind One Nation.<\/p>\n Ley is refusing to voluntarily step aside and her allies remain sceptical that Taylor has the numbers.<\/p>\n Senior moderates remain supportive of Ley and are refusing to do a deal with Taylor to engineer her exit, meaning the rightwinger will need to woo centre-right and unaligned MPs to secure the leadership.<\/p>\n Ley defeated Taylor 29 votes to 25<\/a> to win the Liberal leadership after the 2025 election.<\/p>\n The makeup of the party room has changed since then, with Ley losing supporters Hollie Hughes, Linda Reynolds and Gisele Kapterian<\/a>, who was allowed to vote in the ballot while counting continued in Bradfield.<\/p>\n Taylor has gained an extra supporter in Jess Collins, who replaced Hughes in the senate.<\/p>\n Asked directly on Tuesday if he supported Ley remaining as leader, the Liberal frontbencher and moderate powerbroker Andrew Bragg told ABC\u2019s RN Breakfast: \u201cYes, I do\u201d.<\/p>\n The senior Liberal rightwinger Jonathon Duniam said Taylor needed to come clean about his plans.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there is an intention for leadership to change, then people need to make their views clear. If they\u2019re not going to, they need to rule it out,\u201d he told Sky News.<\/p>\n