One conservative MP said of the anti-Ley group: “These people hold extreme views that don’t reflect the modern Liberal Party – they should be punished if they go down this path.”
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The hostile MPs key complaint is that Ley and her leadership group allowed the saga to drag on and turn into a pile-on where Price was cast as a bigot without colleagues coming to her defence. Two MPs contrasted the situation with former leader Peter Dutton demanding his troops refrain from criticising Julian Leeser when he quit the frontbench during the Voice to parliament referendum.
Senator Sarah Henderson, dumped in a shadow cabinet reshuffle after the election, reflected the views of the disaffected MPs on Thursday afternoon when she released a statement declining to endorse Price’s dismissal. Price was a “great Australian”, Henderson said, and “the Liberal Party needs to be better at supporting our own, including of course female MPs”. Other members of the disaffected group include Tony Pasin, Rick Wilson and Alex Antic and about half a dozen others.
Both Pasin and Antic told The Australian on Thursday that Ley should not have removed Price from the frontbench.
Ley will soon announce a replacement for Price. According to senior party sources, two MPs in the box seat for promotion are Phil Thompson, currently an assistant shadow minister, and Claire Chandler, who was promoted under Dutton but dropped by Ley. If Thompson moved into the ministry, Chandler could take his spot in the more junior frontbench ranks. Both are well-respected, younger members of the Right.
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Speaking at a press conference in Rokeby, Tasmania on Thursday, Ley said: “May I take this opportunity, as leader of the Liberal Party, to apologise to all Indian Australians and indeed others who were hurt and distressed by the comments that were made.”
The Price saga came to a head on Wednesday when she refused to bow to Ley’s demands to apologise to Indian-Australians and declined to state her support for Ley.
Deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien said on Thursday that Ley was right to sack Price, as the Indian community in Australia “did not ask to be the centre of political dialogue over the last week”.
Opposition finance spokesperson James Paterson said Price’s position on the opposition frontbench was untenable.
“You are required to support the leader of the parliamentary party, if you are a member of the frontbench, and if you can no longer do that, then you are obliged to leave the frontbench,” he told Sky News on Thursday morning.
However, Paterson said he felt “confident” that Price would return, citing her “sincere and genuine” advocacy.
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