Sussan Ley dismisses Liberal leadership speculation as ‘media frenzy’, as Andrew Hastie, Angus Taylor circle

Moderate Liberal MPs who backed Sussan Ley for the leadership after last year’s election defeat are emerging as the key group to determine whether Andrew Hastie or fellow conservative rival Angus Taylor will take over the party’s top job.

During the Australia Day long weekend, the various leadership camps have continued to canvass support amid a growing acceptance in the Opposition that their embattled Leader will face a challenge when Parliament returns in early February.

On Monday Ms Ley repeatedly refused to accept her position was under threat, while Angus Taylor declared the Liberal Party has “to do better” and Andrew Hastie’s camp continued to boast of a growing number of MPs switching their allegiance to him.

Supporters of Mr Hastie believe the younger backbencher presents a more marketable alternative to the Albanese Labor government, despite his lesser political experience and concerns over some of his controversial views on topics such as abortion.

Members of the moderate faction acknowledge Ms Ley is facing growing uncertainty in her position, but some are adamant she can survive the next parliamentary sitting if neither of her two conservative rivals are able to mount enough of their own support.

“A key difference between now and the last election is the rise of One Nation, some of us believe Hastie would be better at responding to that, but others rightly point out that’s delusional — and we just need to better define our own Liberal Party ideals,” one MP tells The Nightly.

Another moderate MP said many in the Liberal Party were closely watching what New South Wales factional player Alex Hawke would do, along with other right faction figures such as Jono Duniam, James Paterson and Michaelia Cash.

During an Australia Day appearance in her New South Wales electorate, the Opposition leader defiantly declared she would be remaining in the job, repeatedly dismissing suggestions of a looming party room showdown.

“I’m not speculating on something that is a media frenzy and is just speculation,” the Opposition Leader told reporters in Corowa, adding that her leadership was “absolutely not” over.

“Today is about Australia Day and celebrating what it means on this amazing day. Tomorrow we’re getting back to work for the Australian people,” Ms Ley said.

“It is an honour to lead the Liberal Party and it is an honour to work hard with my team developing a really strong agenda. Much of that work is underway. There’s more to come.”

Asked when she would be naming her new shadow cabinet following last week’s Coalition split with the Nationals, Ms Ley insisted the day was only for talking about what it meant to be Australian.

“I spoke a couple of days ago about the regrettable circumstances of the National Party deciding to leave the Coalition, and I said the door was open. And I know a lot of people will be having conversations and reflections.”

“They’ll be talking about the door being open. Let’s see what those next steps are. My eye is not on the door. My eye is on the Australian people, and the job they sent us here to do in the Parliament and in our individual communities for them.”

Shadow defence minister Angus Taylor has also refused to rule out a challenge to Ms Ley and in his first public comments since returning to the country from a European holiday declared the Liberal Party needed to be “united to succeed”.

When questioned at an Australia Day event in Camden about his ambitions, he said he was prevented from commenting given his shadow cabinet position — but didn’t explicitly dismiss that he was considering a push for the leadership.

“What I would say is that the most important thing that Sussan can do, and all of us can do, is fight for those values (and) fight for aspirational Australians,” he told The Australian.

Over the weekend Western Australian Liberal backbencher Andrew Hastie repeatedly declined to comment on his leadership ambitions when he was approached by 7 News during a morning run.

“I just don’t want to talk about party matters to the media, it’s just not what we do,” Mr Hastie said on Sunday.

Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, now a One Nation MP, told Sunrise on Monday he believed the former soldier and Canning MP now had enough support to become the next Liberal leader.

“I’ll put the kiss of death on them. I’d say Andrew Hastie has the numbers,” Mr Joyce said.