Infighting and leadership battles rock Australia’s four biggest parties

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A week after the election, it seems everyone in Parliament is locked in leadership struggles. The Liberals, Nationals and Greens all need to pick new party heads, and Labor is fighting over the makeup of its next cabinet.

There’s a lot to keep track of on the Coalition side, with a prominent National defecting to the Liberals and aiming to become that party’s deputy leader. Meanwhile, several potential candidates for Greens leadership have bowed out of the race.

Here’s the current state of play.

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The Nationals 

The Nationals aim to have a leader confirmed by the end of the day, and Queensland Senator Matt Canavan has announced he will challenge Maranoa MP David Littleproud for the job. 

If you thought the Nationals were too timid under Littleproud’s leadership, don’t worry: Canavan has promised to dial it up a few notches. 

“We were told at the last election that we had to turn the volume down, the National Party, to help the Liberal Party win seats in the cities. Now, that clearly didn’t work,” he told Nine’s Today show.

National Party rules say there should be a leadership ballot after every federal election, according to SBS News.

There are reportedly rumblings that some Nationals members are considering whether the party should split from the Liberals entirely, with one source telling The Australian that it would allow both parties time to find their own ground.

The Liberals

On Tuesday, it will be the Liberals’ turn. The party lost its leader Peter Dutton after he was voted out of his Queensland seat of Dickson, and at least two serious challengers have emerged. 

Current deputy leader Sussan Ley is aligned with Scott Morrison’s old centre-right faction, but is likely to get support from the moderates, giving her a strong position ahead of the vote. 

She’ll be up against Treasury spokesperson and right-winger Angus Taylor, who might have an ace up his sleeve. His running mate is the federal Parliament’s newest Liberal, NT Senator Jacinta Price, who defected from the Nationals just days ago. 

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Taylor and Price’s far-right putsch in the Liberals would create the parliamentary wing of Sky News

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan took a swipe at the Coalition’s Indigenous Australians spokesperson for her defection, claiming she was motivated more by personal gain than what’s best for voters.

“Jacinta Price’s decision to put her own ambition over the will of the voters is exactly why people are sick of politicians,” he posted on X.

“If Jacinta wanted to sit in the Liberal partyroom, she could have stood for a Liberal seat just a week ago. Why didn’t she?”

Liberal comeback kid Tim Wilson has also said he’s interested in standing for leader.

The ABC projected last week that independent Zoe Daniel will lose her seat of Goldstein to Wilson, who was the previous Liberal member there. Wilson told The Age his colleagues had told him he should consider running for leader.

“I am mindful of the National Party’s leadership ballot [on Monday] and that will inform my judgment,” Wilson said on Sunday.

Labor 

Anthony Albanese certainly looks stable as the leader of the Labor Party, but he’s managed to ruffle a few feathers with his picks for Labor’s next cabinet. 

According to The Australian, members of the party’s right faction are “furious” over the axing of Industry and Science Minister Ed Husic and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus from their ministries. 

Husic told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday that Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was a “factional assassin” and said Albanese should have intervened to save his job. 

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Sacking Dreyfus and Husic to appease Marles proves Labor 2.0 will be just more of the same

“I’m not going to sit here with false modesty. Of course, when you hear him [Albanese] rattle off names of … people that would be retaining ministerial spots, I’m sure I wasn’t the only minister wanting to be in that list,” Husic said.

“If he [Albanese] had exercised that authority, I don’t think anyone would have quibbled.” 

The Greens 

Having lost its leader Adam Bandt, the Greens are gearing up to elect someone else to steer the party’s agenda in the next Parliament. Tasmanian Senator Nick McKim is acting as leader, but has said he won’t contest the ballot on Thursday. 

NSW Senator Mehreen Faruqi is seen as a frontrunner, as is South Australian Senator Sarah Hanson-Young. 

Despite losing several lower house seats, including Bandt’s electorate of Melbourne, the party will be in a strong position in the Senate. It’s likely Labor will be able to pass legislation through that chamber with just Greens support, which would diminish the Coalition’s influence compared with the previous Parliament and give the Greens the balance of power. 

Who should be chosen to lead the Libs, Nats and Greens to the next election?

We want to hear from you. Write to us at letters@crikey.com.au to be published in Crikey. Please include your full name. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.

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