On the Sunday before he was ousted as prime minister in September 2015, Tony Abbott sweat through a gym workout with his candidate in the upcoming Canning byelection, Andrew Hastie. Hastie, who would go on to win the seat on the southern outskirts of Perth despite the political chaos of the days preceding it, took the opportunity to ask for Abbott’s advice on leadership.
Hastie told a business event in November 2022, “I asked him about leadership and he said, ‘Look, I never sought the leadership actively – but I always put myself in striking distance’.”
“The party has been drifting and he’s cutting through that in the way that the party needs,” said the Liberal MP and Hastie supporter, Garth Hamilton.
Liberal sources are downplaying any immediate threat to Ley with a majority of the party room, including the bulk of conservative MPs, unwilling to entertain the distraction of a leadership contest so early in the term.
But Hastie’s interventions have fast-tracked consideration of the alternative. Not just an alternative leader for the party, but an alternative brand of rightwing politics anchored in flag-waving patriotism, faith, family and a fight for what its proponents see as “western civilisation” itself. The most high-profile exponent of which is Abbott.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/25/future-liberal-leader-or-party-disruptor-andrew-hastie-and-the-rise-of-the-maga-right
