New Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor has used his first few hours at the helm to issue a strong message at a press conference on Friday.
Standing alongside his new deputy leader, Victorian Senator Jane Hume, Taylor spoke to the media in front of four Australian flags at Parliament House.
This marked a stark difference from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s first address to the nation in May 2022, which was delivered in front of one Australian flag, the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag.
The decision to display the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags was described at the time as a ‘monumental’ step forward for race relations in Australia.
Taylor’s predecessor, Sussan Ley, whom he toppled in a leadership spill on Friday morning, notably stood in front of only two Australian flags.
The spill, which Taylor won comfortably by 34 votes to 17, followed polling that showed the Coalition’s primary vote had slumped to a record low and had been overtaken by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.
Following her defeat, Ley confirmed she will quit politics in the coming weeks, triggering a by-election in the seat of Farrer, which she has represented since 2001.
‘It is important that the new leader gets clear air, something that is not always afforded to leaders, but which in the present moment is more important than ever,’ she said.
Taylor spoke in front of four Australian flags behind the podium at Parliament House on Friday
Albanese’s staff replaced two of the three Australian flags behind the podium during his first address to the nation in May 2022
However within minutes of Taylor winning the leadership, former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull launched a scathing attack on him.
He warned the party now risks ‘oblivion’ – and claimed Taylor was described by ‘a lot of people’ as ‘the best-qualified idiot they have ever met’.
Turnbull told the ABC that simply changing leaders would not fix the party’s deeper problems.
He was also blunt about whether Taylor was the answer to the party’s woes.
‘No, no, he’s absolutely not,’ he said.
‘No leader is. What they really need to do is move back to the centre.’
