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Sussan Ley says voters have “moved on” from Scott Morrison’s government, while outlining a plan to win back every seat lost to the teal independents in May 2022.
And the deputy Liberal leader has nominated three priority policy areas to win back the former heartland Liberal seats: more affordable housing, great support for working women and tackling the rising cost of living.
The long road back: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and deputy Sussan Ley.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Ley has been a frequent visitor to teal seats since the last election, visiting North Sydney five times – the most recent visit was on Friday, with candidate Gisele Kapterian – Wentworth three times, as well as a visit each to Mackellar and Warringah. She has also been to the Melbourne seat of Goldstein and the Perth seat of Curtin twice.
Kapterian is a lawyer and was a political staffer in the previous government for cabinet ministers including Julie Bishop, Michaelia Cash and Steven Ciobo. She was recently pre-selected to stand against Kylea Tink in North Sydney.
After campaigning with Kapterian on Friday, Ley told this masthead that “the road back to government is through every single teal seat”.
“My message is we can win back the teal seats. We will have a red-hot go at every seat we don’t hold at next election, the teals, Labor marginals, inner suburban, outer suburban,” she said. “People have moved on from the former prime minister.
“I would put housing at the top of the list; in a lot of these suburbs up to 40 per cent of people are renters. Closely linked to that is supporting women to have a balanced career and that includes childcare. Plus, everyone wants to see action to drive down prices and the cost of living.”
Asked about the contrast between her determination to win back the teal seats and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s focus on appealing to regional and outer suburban seats, many of which are held by Labor, Ley played down a difference in strategy or approach.
“All of us, the whole team, targets a variety of locations. I’m not confining what I do to the teal seats and I talk about the leader [when she visits teal seats], his strong background on women’s issues. Peter has been here [to a teal seat] and he will be here again.”
Ley said voters in the former Liberal strongholds would be disappointed with the crossbench MPs’ voting records and views on issues ranging from tax policy to industrial relations to the Israel-Hamas war.
Liberal Party North Sydney candidate Gisele Kapterian.
“They have done some worthy work in some areas, but what I believe they’re saying is, ‘Here’s a government bill, here’s my amendment.’ You can’t represent your communities by amendments. People measure things on outcomes, they want results,” Ley said.
An analysis of the teals’ voting record compiled by the Parliamentary Library, provided by Ley’s office, showed that all the new crossbench MPs voted with Labor more regularly than with the Coalition.
Meanwhile, political allies of Josh Frydenberg, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely, hosed down a report in News Corp papers that the former treasurer could decide to recontest the seat of Kooyong, which he lost to teal MP Monique Ryan.
They stressed that Frydenberg had not changed his mind and was happy in the private sector but conceded that, with pre-selection for the seat not due to be held until January 15 next year, there was still time to do so.
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