Cash, Joyce, Hastie keep pushing Ley’s Coalition into the margins

For all that the Ley-era Coalition is supposed to be a work in progress — with a fundamental policy review slowly unfolding — the same dynamic that has driven the allaince since 2007 is still in place: right-wingers in both the Nationals and the Liberals recognise no limits or rules in trying to push the Coalition further and further to the margins, while moderates mount little pushback beyond backgrounding the media on their unhappiness.

Leader Sussan Ley is being rather haplessly dragged along in their wake.

The push to overturn Scott Morrison’s hopelessly inadequate net-zero commitment could be blamed on the Nationals’ internal politics — vizthe disgruntlement of Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack and their desire to get rid of leader David Littleproud (what a party to be blessed with three such titans). Except that the calls have started coming from inside the Liberal house, specifically in Perth.

In late July, Andrew Hastie and Michaelia Cash backed a WA Liberal branch motion against net zero, with Hastie linking net zero to a xenophobic conspiracy theory and attacking Basil Zempilas, the Perth TV and radio entertainer currently filling in as WA state Liberal leader.

Poor Dan Tehan, once, strangely, touted as a possible leader — and for his sins handed the poisoned chalice of crafting a Coalition energy policy — has kept his head down, barely troubling the media with interviews or statements, while Cash in particular has savaged net zero, something she was, in happier times, eager to talk up. The Liberal Senate leader does most of her media on right-wing propaganda outlets like Sky, 2GB, Seven and, of course, Perth’s 6PR, and feels unconstrained about intervening in the portfolios of other shadow ministers.

“Net zero, at this point in time, is killing the Australian economy,” she told Sky After Dark last week.

Cash has also retained the Dutton-era enthusiasm for culture wars, attacking Welcome to Country ceremonies and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags. Not to be outdone, Hastie has launched a pro-Australian flag campaign, Together Under One Flag, maintaining the proud right-wing tradition of dressing up efforts to foster division in the garb of unity. Hopefully the Morrison-era requirement for an Australian flag tiepin will be restored once he becomes leader.

And Hastie isn’t afraid to discuss his leadership ambitions. He has now supplanted Angus Taylor as the right-winger’s choice as Liberal leader, with the backing of the Sky News menagerie and the far-right campaign group Advance. Just days ago, Hastie was touting his ambition to lead while offering the usual platitudes about supporting Ley.

All of that was before the Albanese government’s commitment to recognise a Palestinian state gave the right a cause to get behind with full-throated support. Moderate MPs who had previously expressed reservations about the Coalition’s enthusiasm for the mass killing of Palestinians ducked for cover. Cash, Hastie and other right-wingers like James Paterson flocked to Sky, 2GB, 3AW, 6PR and 4BC to denounce Labor as doing the bidding of Hamas and committed to overturning recognition if they’re reelected.

Ley — her one-time support for Palestinians now a decidedly faded memory — had to lead the way, although you could sense her discomfort when talking to Liberal-MP-turned-far-right-shock-jock Gary Hardgrave on 4BC. Hardgrave introduced the opposition leader earlier this week by saying Albanese had sold Australia out and that he stood in front of three flags when he spoke, while Benjamin Netanyahu only spoke in front of one. Albanese had “endorsed” Hamas, Hardgrave insisted — a suggestion Ley declined to take up — before seguing smoothly but perhaps confusingly to saying taxing electric vehicle usage was an example of Albanese “taxing us to death”.

“There’s talk now of big protests to actually say ‘Let’s take back Australia’. I mean, do you support that concept?” Hardgave implored Ley, referring to far-right protests organised for the end of the month. “Because I personally have some difficulty about protesting on the streets about it, but the government is actually bringing everyday Australians together by the way they’re wrecking the country.”

“It’s interesting, isn’t it,” Ley limply replied, perhaps thrown by Hardgrave’s own deep confusion about what he was objecting to, “because we all support the right of free speech and protest where they should be.”

Stuck in an interview with an addled right-winger was an apt symbol of Ley’s leadership, while, despite the years of evidence and the catastrophe of May 3, the right drags the Coalition further and further to the extremes. Meanwhile, Hastie waits in the wings for his moment in the Sky spotlight after dark.