Ley reshuffles her frontbench again after Hastie exit as Abbott chimes in

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has reshuffled her frontbench following the resignation of Andrew Hastie in a shake up that promotes both conservative and moderate MPs and injects new talent into the shadow ministry.

Ley suffered a huge slump in her approval ratings in the latest Resolve Political Monitor following a month of instability, leaks, resignations and sackings engulfing the Liberal Party, prompting former prime minister Tony Abbott to call for the Coalition to focus on distinguishing itself from Labor.

Asked on Nine’s Today show about the troubles plaguing the Liberals, Abbott said a lesson he had learned as opposition leader was “to be a clear and strong contrast to the government of the day”.

Abbott’s comments follow the Resolve poll published in this masthead, which recorded a 14 per centage point drop in Ley’s popularity in the past month, as senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and West Australian MP Andrew Hastie exited the frontbench.

The opposition leader promoted Tasmanian senator Jonathan Duniam, a conservative, to the home affairs post vacated by Hastie and shifted shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser, a moderate, to the education portfolio.

Ambitious Queensland MP Andrew Wallace, a former barrister and former parliamentary speaker who leans conservative, has been elevated from shadow cabinet secretary straight into shadow cabinet for the first time and is now shadow attorney-general.

Wallace has resigned as the deputy chair of Parliament’s Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS), one of the most influential parliamentary committees, and Ley nominated another conservative, Phillip Thompson, to replace him as deputy chair.

Rising star Zoe McKenzie will take over as shadow cabinet secretary while retaining her shadow assistant minister portfolio in education, while fellow Liberals Aaron Violi (shadow assistant minister for communications) and Cameron Caldwell (shadow assistant minister for housing and for mental health) were also given promotions.

It is the Coalition’s third frontbench arrangement in the five months since the May election.

The changes are designed to balance tensions between the Liberal Party’s factions, which are currently feuding over policies such as the net zero emissions by 2050 target and immigration.

Earlier, Abbott said he was “disappointed” by Hastie’s resignation from shadow cabinet, saying “I think he’s talented” but said the party needed to take a longer view.

“It’s too easy to focus on what’s urgent today and miss what’s important for the long term. And I just think that we spend a lot of time angsting over trivia. And you know whether one individual is up or down on any particular day. In the end, mostly none of us are going to worry about it in six months time, let alone 60 years,” he said.

Abbott was opposition leader for almost four years, from December 2009 to September 2013, before the Coalition returned to government. He was prime minister for less than two years, before being deposed by Malcolm Turnbull, and told Radio National this morning that “he wished he’d had a bigger bite of the onion”, reflecting on his short stint in the job.

Asked about Ley’s performance, Abbott said: “Naturally, Sussan has my support and encouragement, but a good opposition is a strong and clear contrast to the government of the day. Politics is a contest, and as I said when I became opposition leader back in 2009, there’s no point making weak compromises with a bad government. You’ve got to be a strong and clear contrast.”

Abbott said he was disappointed that Hastie had left the frontbench, saying he “has vast potential and promise” and that “he’s got a lot to contribute”.

Abbott was interviewed by several media outlets on Monday morning to promote his new book, Australia: A History, which charts the country from the colonial era onwards and reflects on the contribution of several prime ministers from Curtin and Hawke to, more briefly, his predecessor and successor, Julia Gillard and Malcolm Turnbull.

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