Australia’s Liberals elect net zero opponent as new leader

Angus Taylor (centre) has replaced Sussan Ley (front) as leader of Australia's Liberal Party. Photo / David Gray, AFP

Australia’s centre-right opposition Liberal Party has elected as its leader a conservative who lobbied to drop its commitment to net zero emissions, Australian media reported today.

Angus Taylor, a former Energy Minister, replaces Sussan Ley, the party’s first female leader, who had been in office for less than a year.

She was ousted after a leadership challenge was called yesterday, leading multiple members of her team to resign.

The Liberals have endured an agonising existential crisis since a disastrous election showing last year, torn between centrist factions arguing for a more moderate stance and right-wingers sceptical of climate legislation and multiculturalism.

The party leadership has also been spooked by recent opinion polls showing it falling behind the more right-wing populist One Nation.

Last month, Ley endured a very public spat with longtime coalition partners the Nationals, with whom the Liberal Party has governed Australia for much of the past century.

In November, the party dropped its commitment to net zero emissions, introduced in 2021 by former Liberal leader Scott Morrison when he was Prime Minister.

Australia’s “climate wars” – a years-long domestic fight over emissions policy – stalled progress on meeting the commitment. The country remains dependent on its fossil fuel economy for growth.

Taylor was seen as a key proponent of the decision to drop the commitment to zero emissions.

The son of a sheep farmer, he is seen as part of the Liberals’ conservative “national right” faction.

He attracted online ridicule in 2019 when he replied to his own social media post with: “Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus.”

The next general election must be held by May 2028 after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party won power by a wide margin last year.

- Agence France-Presse