Asked six times on Tuesday whether he supported a multicultural Australia, Angus Taylor finally answered on the seventh try. “We can have people from all over the world, of all races and religions in this country, but they must share those core values,” the Liberal leader said. A day later, in an interview with 2GB, he added that he backed multiculturalism but “not Labor’s multiculturalism.”
The delay has cost him. Colleagues quoted by The Age say the episode has reopened doubts about whether the 60-year-old opposition leader can cut through with voters.
Where it started
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson set the terms the week before. She told the National Press Club that Australia “must be monocultural” and that “Australians must live under the one cultural umbrella.” Taylor was then pushed to say where he stood. Hanson later softened her position in parliament, pointing to the Socceroos, a comparison The Age’s James Massola called absurd.
Former Liberal senator Amanda Vanstone, who was immigration minister under John Howard, accused Taylor of taking his cues from Hanson. “We are one of the big three immigration countries around the globe. Unless you’re a full-blown Indigenous Australian you have migrant blood in your veins,” she said. “And if you can’t stand up for that, you’re in trouble.”
What Liberal MPs are saying
None of the MPs would be named. Their views split.
One defended the leader while admitting he was struggling: “He’s trying hard in a very difficult environment, his instincts are good, but there are communications challenges. But it is early days, he deserves a fair go.” Another said the policy side was developing well, even if he might be struggling “on the retail side of things,” and that with 18 months until the election the party needed to “hold our nerve.”
A third said Taylor should simply have called multiculturalism great and moved on to the economy. As the election nears, that MP said, “if people are looking at losing their seat, then there will be a change.”
Massola’s column quoted a more hostile colleague. “Every shadow minister went out and endorsed multiculturalism, Ruston, Hume, and he is on his own,” this person said, adding: “Angus’ leadership is failing. We are looking to Hastie for strong leadership.” Yet the same MP said the party had not yet reached the stage of “thinking about getting rid of him.”
A fourth Liberal complained that the party had picked a leader “straight from central casting when the electorate wants to burn place down. Hastie would disrupt the status quo, Angus will not.”
Hastie in the wings
Andrew Hastie, a conservative frontbencher, shares a birthday with Taylor and is exactly 18 years younger. The Age calls him the likeliest successor. He was first in the frame to replace Sussan Ley in February but was persuaded to stand aside for Taylor. Shadow treasurer Tim Wilson, a Melbourne moderate, is seen as an outside chance.
On Friday Hastie emailed supporters about attacks from Hanson and her chief of staff James Ashby. “They’ve run a relentless campaign of personal attacks against me online,” he wrote, saying security at his home and electorate office needed to be upgraded. He said he told the joint party room he would never surrender to One Nation and that “they’d have to take me out in a box before that happens.” He also criticised Barnaby Joyce, the former Nationals leader now a One Nation MP, for being “off on a frolic in London.”
Massola noted that the Coalition’s primary vote sits at just 20 per cent, and that Liberals now judge Taylor to be polling worse than Ley did. Taylor, Hastie and Wilson all declined to comment.
Sources
- Angus Taylor damaged, but he won’t be dumped – yet
- On borrowed time? Why Liberals are starting to chatter about Angus Taylor
