Peter Dutton will become leader of the Liberal Party and Sussan Ley will “likely” become his deputy, former Home Secretary Karen Andrews has confirmed.
The Gold Coast MP told Sunrise that no other candidate will take over the former defense minister when the party hall votes for Scott Morrison’s replacement next month.
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“It is very clear that Peter Dutton will be chosen as the leader without opposition and, most likely, that Sussan Ley will become the vice leader,” he said on Wednesday.
It comes after former Prime Minister Morrison announced he would step down after the Coalition election defeat on Saturday.
Former Defense Minister Peter Dutton and former Environment Minister Sussan Ley will “likely” lead the Liberal Party. Credit: Getty
Candidates for the deputy post, formerly held by former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, are rumored to include former law minister Jane Hume, Bridget Archer and Andrews herself.
During his interview with Sunrise, Andrews also confirmed that moderate liberals approached Frydenberg to challenge Morrison for leadership before the election.
Concerned politicians hoped the bet would allow the party to win central and female votes and perhaps give them more chances to retain the government.
“No, I wasn’t one of the MPs who approached Josh Frydenberg,” he said when investigated on the Seven breakfast program.
“Would it have made a difference? Look, we can only speculate.
“We know there were a number of factors that kept people from supporting the re – election of the coalition government.
“The Prime Minister was clearly concerned in some seats,” he admitted, acknowledging Scott Morrison’s unpopularity.
Scott Morrison will step down as Liberal leader, but will remain a member of Cook in South Sydney. Credit: Getty Images
“I think we have to admit that many educated women who have traditionally been supporters of the Liberal Party did not support us,” she continued.
“From my point of view, these people started running away from us in the 2019 elections, but it did become a mass exodus in the 2022 elections.”
Andrews said the Liberal Party has “a considerable amount of work” to do if they want to regain Labor government in three years’ time.
“I think what we need to do is look very closely at the principles of the Liberal Party, what we really stand for, and make sure that as we reshape our policies, we put our values very much at the heart of it.”
As votes continue to count, the Coalition appears to have suffered its worst electoral defeat in seven decades.
The Liberal Party is expected to end up with about 56 seats after losing several constituencies to Labor, the Greens and the “Green Green Independents” in previous blue-collar constituencies.