I’ve seen hundreds of political dirt files – but the shocking smears the Liberals are peddling to bury Sussan Ley shocked even ME. It’s no wonder women are fleeing the party in droves: PETER VAN ONSELEN

A new low for sleazy political operators

The two-horse race for the Liberal leadership has become a divisive, bitter showdown between two of the most senior and culpable members of the team that delivered the Coalition its shattering election result.

While those left behind to pick up the pieces are trying to convince themselves the only problem was Peter Dutton‘s personal unpopularity, in truth the lack of policy direction and able lieutenants around the former leader were equally as problematic.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley were in the thick of this failure, yet they are now the only two leadership candidates who have emerged for next week’s ballot.

It is a sign that in defeat Liberals aren’t learning the lessons they must to regroup and be competitive at the next election.

Irrespective of who wins the tussle for the poisoned chalice of leading what’s left of the opposition, it’s very hard to see them surviving three years to fight the next poll. And worse than that, unless the Liberals get serious about addressing the truth behind why they lost, the vanquished candidate from this leadership contest will simply hang around and undermine the winner, just as we’ve seen so many times in the past when Liberals lose big.

Ley is the favourite, according to insiders, making the chances of a smear campaign after she wins all the more probable.

That’s because right now there is a s*** sheet on her doing the rounds designed to undermine her chances and promote Taylor into the front-runner position.

There is a s*** sheet on deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley (pictured) doing the rounds right now designed to undermine her chances of leadership. It’s truly grubby stuff

The document is sexist, defamatory and disgusting. I am not suggesting that shadow treasurer Angus Taylor (pictured) is behind it, but it’s hard to believe he’s not at least aware it exists

For those unfamiliar with the murky underbelly of Australian politics, a s*** sheet, sometimes known as a dirt file, is a dossier full of smears, innuendo, rumours and (very occasionally) some facts that are intended to destroy a candidate’s credibility.

They are par for the course in Canberra, and whenever you see a series of damaging stories about a pollie appear seemingly out of nowhere in a manner that looks coordinated, you can usually bet on a dirt file ‘drop’ being behind it.

Now, I won’t be recounting what is in that document, but I have seen it. It’s deeply sexist, defamatory and frankly disgusting. While nobody can say Taylor is behind it – and I am certainly not suggesting he is – it’s hard to believe he’s not at least aware of its existence. I mean, if a journalist like me knows about it, surely he would too?

I know other senior party figures are, and some aren’t amused. Others, in a sign of how lows Liberals have sunk, think it’s variously funny or fair, which confirms why in recent times the Liberals have come to be informally known as the ‘nasty party’, as former senate leader Simon Birmingham recently noted.

We all know the number of women in Liberal ranks is appalling low. They have been decimated in the cities, especially inner-city areas. Younger voters are turned off the Liberal Party and deserted them in droves at this election.

How on Earth can the opposition hope to pick up these seats and win over these voters if they simply produce more of the same next time? Yet that is exactly what they look like doing.

Neither leadership candidate is likely to do what should be the first order of business for a new top dog: pick returning Liberal MP Tim Wilson to be shadow treasurer.

He won his former electorate of Goldstein back off teal MP Zoe Daniel, who embarrassingly celebrated her ‘victory’ on Saturday night with a premature dance. That mortifying moment will become the legacy she leaves behind.

Zoe Daniel (right) embarrassingly lost Goldstein to Liberal MP Tim Wilson (left)…

… after a premature televised ‘victory dance’ that will become the legacy she leaves behind

Wilson’s seat is inner city, a traditional heartland electorate for the party and his win is evidence that fighting to defeat teals the right way can be successful.

He’s also a former assistant minister under Scott Morrison and a former chair of the powerful House economics committee. More importantly he knows how to take the fight up to Labor on economic issues, having been the architect behind the assault on Bill Shorten‘s unsuccessful 2019 attempt to change the rules around franking credits.

You can bet that having won this election in a landslide, with more left-wing MPs and a Greens balance of power in the senate, Labor will overreach on economic policy again. This will provide the Liberals with a prime opportunity to win the high ground on the economy it lost over the last three years, despite Labor’s failing on cost-of-living challenges, standards of living and interest rates, and economic growth.

How can a shadow treasurer responsible for this aspect of Coalition policy – having botched it so badly – now a serious contender for leader?

Equally, how can the deputy leader be the other candidate? Both of them have shown themselves to be proven failures, yet they are now the Clayton’s choices to run the show. It’s woeful.

The very least they should do is get the team around them right, but they won’t if Wilson isn’t among a refresh in the shadow cabinet.

Of course, it’s difficult for either contender to argue a refresh is necessary when they both represent stale options to lead.

Casualties of Labor factionalism

Meanwhile, on the other side, the decision to dump cabinet ministers Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus is proof positive of how broken Labor’s factional system now is.

Don’t take my word for it, just ask former Labor PM and party icon Paul Keating, who released a statement slamming the move – and hammering Anthony Albanese for not intervening to save both men.

Labor prime ministers, especially fresh after winning a thumping victory, have authority to stand up to the factional overlords who pick Labor’s frontbench.

That’s right, the PM doesn’t do that, factional bosses do it, carving the ministry up according to which faction and which state has more MPs than the other. It’s pathetically small-minded.

The decision to dump cabinet ministers Ed Husic (left) and Mark Dreyfus (right) is proof positive of how broken Labor’s factional system now is

So, as a consequence, Husic, one of Labor’s best (and there weren’t many) ministers from its first term, has been dumped.

And Dreyfus, the party’s only King’s Counsel (the highest honour a law practitioner can get), has been removed as Attorney-General.

Don’t ever let anyone in thrall of the Labor Party tell you merit matters to them.

Election washout? Greens are going nowhere

Mark Twain once said ‘reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated’, and so it is with the Australian Greens at this election.

While the woke Greens would no doubt be offended by Twain’s use of stereotypes back in his day, his turn of phrase above sums up the reaction to the minor party losing its leader at this election, with suggestions it is the beginning of the end of the self-righteous lot.

Well, sorry to disappoint, but that’s far from the case.

The Greens might have seen a small dip in their primary vote at this election, but it’s a mere 0.05 of a per cent. They still secured north of 12 per cent of the national vote in the senate, winning back all six of their senate spots up for grabs, which keeps their senate total at 11.

That means they will have the balance of power in the senate during the next parliamentary term all to themselves, something they didn’t have previously.

And the departure of Adam Bandt is probably a good thing for the minor party, especially if Sarah Hanson-Young takes over the leadership. It will help the Greens get back to their core business: the environment and social justice.

With the senate balance of power all to themselves, the Greens will be able to dictate policy to the Labor Party – unless the Coalition agrees with what Labor puts forward and the new laws therefore sail through the parliament.

That’s true power – as opposed to whingeing from the sideline, as Bandt was wont to do.

The idea of the Greens emboldened for the next three years won’t fill everyone with joy, especially the business community, but it’s a fact people will need to get used to – even if the narrative at the moment is that they are licking their electoral wounds.

Many of the Greens’ political rivals have been dancing on the graves of Adam Bandt and ousted housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather (left), a man often described as Albo’s ‘nemesis’

Given the way Bandt carried on during his time in politics, it’s not hard to see why so many of his political opponents have been dancing on his grave.

Still, it’s unedifying when a prime minister does it – and that is exactly what Albo did during an interview on ABC’s 7.30 on Wednesday. He took aim at the Greens and, in particular, ousted housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather, a man often referred to as his ‘nemesis’, drawing the ire of former Greens leader Bob Brown.

Brown, an old-school Green who entered into a power-sharing arrangement with Labor PM Julia Gillard after the 2010 election served up a hung parliament, described the PM as having the ‘grace of a cockroach’.

It’s hard to disagree.

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