Angus Taylor ramps up rallying cry to Coalition colleagues amid shadow Frydenberg political threat

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has sought to energise the Coalition during Tuesday’s joint party room meeting, calling for his team to “fight for the soul of the country” in an impassioned address.

The noticeably more fiery pep talk comes after days of headlines about the possibility of a political comeback by former treasurer Josh Frydenberg promoted by a media blitz for his memoir.

The former MP for Kooyong proposed a string of policies he believed the Coalition should act on and insisted in interviews that he felt “things have to change” after Liberal polling fell to an all-time low.

While Mr Frydenberg did not confirm when he would contest a seat again, only that it was possible he could make a return to politics — his suggestions included expanding the GST and introducing a mandatory system of “civic service” for school leavers.

However, Mr Frydenberg’s name was left out of discussions in the joint-party room on Tuesday and Mr Taylor received a roaring applause after his rallying address.

“Colleagues, over the coming months and years and beyond, we are fighting for the soul of our country,” Mr Taylor declared.

“We are fighting for what we want our country to be.

“We have seen Australia going backwards in the wrong direction, like at no time in my life.

“We have a responsibility to deliver that plan. To fix our economy, to protect our way of life.

“The key to that is a team with the skills and the background of these people, you people in this room.

“We’re going to fight every single day, all the way through the elections, because Australia is worth fighting for now more than ever.”

Despite poor polling over the past year and Mr Frydenberg’s criticisms, The Coalition enjoyed cent one per cent bumps in both the Newspoll and DemosAU ranking, bringing its primary support to 20 per cent and 22 per cent.

Some in the party have raised concerns about Mr Frydenberg’s public intervention so close to a key election in Victoria where State Liberal Jess Wilson is seeking to defeat a long-term Labor government.

During the partyroom on Tuesday the 45-day countdown to the Victorian State Election was raised with colleagues and their need to assist Ms Wilson — a former aide of Mr Frydenberg — and the “brilliant job” her team was doing.

Mr Taylor ramped-up pep talk to colleagues on Tuesday came after he faced a grilling in Question Time on Monday over Mr Frydenberg’s looming political threat to his leadership.

Jim Chalmers warned that Mr Taylor was now being “stalked” from inside by frontbencher Andrew Hastie and out by the Liberal COVID-era treasurer.

“Now, the leader of the Opposition is being stalked from the inside by the member for Canning (and) is being stalked from the outside by the failed former member for Kooyong,” the Treasurer told Parliament.

Former Coalition member turned One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday that Mr Frydenberg was “popping up like an illegal smoke shop” and that his resurgence is “very bad for Angus Taylor’s health”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also mocked Josh Frydenberg’s recent string of media interviews promoting his new book, describing him as a “shadow Opposition leader” when addressing a caucus meeting in Canberra on Tuesday.

“The shadow opposition leader has never lacked confidence in his own capacity, but when he had an opportunity to act, he never delivered an energy policy, and as treasurer, he never delivered a surplus,” the PM said of Mr Frydenberg.

The PM reportedly told Labor colleagues “Frydenberg’s priority has always been Josh Frydenberg” and insisted that if he did make another political tilt he would likely be hoping people “forget his record”.

The mud throwing only continued later in Question Time after Dr Chalmers weaved in Mr Frydenberg into a response on previous budget management.

“When the leader of the opposition went to that far-right conference in Brisbane, he had a shot at Josh Frydenberg,” the Labor frontbencher said.

“And he said one of the big mistakes that they made in office was they made a mess of the budget, that they spent too much money.

“Those opposite, since the election, have made more than $110 billion dollars in extra unfunded commitments.

“That would mean that the deficits that are currently in the budget would be at least twice as big as they are now if those opposite were in office.

“Is it any wonder that the member for Canning is stalking him inside this place?

“The former member for Kooyong is stalking him from outside this place.

“Josh Frydenberg thinks the Liberal Party is circling the drain. He’s right.”

Among issues Mr Taylor and his junior party leader Matt Canavan raised in the partyroom was the cost pressures facing motorists and households.

Several pieces of legislation were also discussed including the Coalition’s plan to support a private health insurance amendment to remove the $5000 cap for medical technology and another to resolve technical issues with Australia’s autonomous sanctions on Iran and Syria.

The Coalition also pledged bipartisan support for a child support and family assistance legislation amendment.

The change addresses Australia’s more than $2 billion child support arrears, protects domestic violence victims’ privacy, aligns child support with family tax benefits to avoid lump-sum penalties, and mandates ongoing international payments.

Deputy Opposition leader Jane Hume and shadow treasurer Tim Wilson vowed to introduce private members bills in the House and Senate on Tuesday to tackle recent woes with the Australian Taxation Office’s decision not to accept credit card payments.

Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan will also introduce a private members bill to “scrap net zero cheaper energy bill” in the House, while shadow defence minister James Paterson will introduce one in the Senate titled “protecting Australia’s defence heritage bill”.

Senator Paterson’s bill comes after the Australian government vowed to sell off either wholly or in part 67 military sites around Australia.

He will insist that if the government seeks to sell assets, the relevant minister must make a statement in the House explaining why and the finance minister would introduce a disallowable motion to give the Senate 14 sitting days to prevent the sale of defence assets.