‘If Freya is the answer, we are asking the wrong question’

Well before Freya Fires Up was sensationally axed from Sky News thanks to the appearance of an Islamophobic guest wearing rashers of bacon on his chest, host Freya Leach had been steadily making a name for herself as a darling of the right.

Leach, who only graduated from high school in 2020, has emerged as a right-wing commentator, first while president of the University of Sydney Conservative Club and now as a political influencer for the Liberal Party which enthusiastically backed her social media posts during the federal election.

She rallies against a range of issues, including describing net zero has a “lofty global goal” that will leave Australia “impoverished” as well as bemoaning that society no longer values motherhood. In a paper for the Menzies Research Centre, where she is the director of youth policy, Leach argued that “childcare is often a last resort for families who, if given the choice, would prefer to spend more time with their children”.

Like most Gen Zs, Leach is prolific on social media and some of her political TikToks amass more than 1 million views. In an Instagram reel last year, Leach posed this question to US psychoanalyst and parenting commentator Erica Komisar. Is childcare damaging children’s health?

“Earlier, we heard this orthodoxy that the best thing for mothers, children and the economy is that you pump out babies, ship them off to daycare and the mum goes back to work,” Leach, 23, said in an interview with Komisar. “What is the impact of that thinking?”

Komisar, who was in Sydney for an Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, did not hesitate. “Attachment disorders,” was her response. Komisar regularly argues that childcare causes behavioural issues and anxiety in children.

During the May election, that post was promoted “to working mums in Mackellar”, according to a Liberal source with knowledge of the party’s social media strategy. (The Liberals failed to wrest Mackellar back from teal MP Sophie Scamps.)

The party’s ongoing promotion of Leach and her views, is causing deep ructions among sections of the Liberals who fear the party will remain unelectable unless it dramatically changes. Those changes include reflecting modern Australia.

“If Freya is the answer, we are asking the wrong question,” one long-term Liberal operative said.

“The party and the base gravitate towards her because she is the only young person who tells them that the party doesn’t have to change. She continues to provide validation to the views held in the party which have repeatedly [been] demonstrated through multiple election reviews [to be] the cause of the collapse in the primary vote.”

The Liberals are not only losing ground on their primary vote, but they are also losing women voters. A Resolve Political Monitor survey for this masthead reveals that the Coalition has lost five points on their primary vote among women since 2022. The Liberals have identified that women aged 35 to 54 as the demographic that has deserted the party in droves.

Leach campaigned alongside another darling of the conservatives during the Voice campaign, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, calling the Northern Territory senator “the Queen”, and this month Leach will headline a Liberal fundraiser on Sydney’s northern beaches, once the party’s heartland until the teal takeover.

The theme is “wokeness in education, and the best ways to counter its influence”. Leach will be joined by academic Kevin Donnelly, who describes himself as one of “Australia’s leading conservative public intellectuals and cultural warriors”.

The organiser of the fundraiser, Kieran Morris, was contacted for comment but did not respond. A Liberal Party spokesman confirmed the fundraiser was still going ahead, despite the controversy involving Leach’s ill-fated Sky interview.

Leach, who ran unsuccessfully for the Liberals in the NSW seat of Balmain in 2023, is married to Young Liberal president Cooper Gannon. Gannon works for upper house MP Chris Rath, a powerbroker in the moderate faction.

A senior Liberal Party member did not want to criticise Leach personally, but took a swipe at the party’s promotion of her ideas. “Dutton promoted a cast of characters who were focused on ideological culture wars,” the Liberal, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said. “It was not a winning strategy.

“We need to be talking about the things that actually matter to families like growing wages, housing affordability, cost of healthcare and access to quality childcare and schools.”

Another senior party member, who is restricted from speaking publicly, said there was relief among many within the party when Leach’s shortlived TV show was axed – not because they wanted her to fail, but because many of Leach’s views were at odds with modern Australia.

Leach did not respond to written questions.

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