Not so Hastie
Andrew Hastie is coyly denying short-term Liberal leadership ambitions. But he is edging out Angus Taylor as the conservative wing’s alternative to Sussan Ley.
The Coalition’s crushing defeat in May has forced Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to reset. Election pledges to cut migration and back net zero emissions are no longer formal policy, as she manages a partyroom that never gave her strong backing.
Into that vacuum, frontbencher Andrew Hastie is moving quickly to position himself as the natural alternative.
After threatening to quit the frontbench if net zero remained Coalition policy last week, Hastie has been aping former leader Peter Dutton in a series of hardline statements on immigration.
The opposition home affairs spokesman declared the housing crisis is “driven by unsustainable migration”, warning the party “might even die as a political movement” if it failed to act.
