Updated February 12, 2026 — 9:41am,first published 8:07am
Save
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Remove items from your saved list to add more.
Save this article for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.
Got it
AAA
Three Liberal MPs have resigned from the opposition frontbench as Angus Taylor’s backers formally call for a meeting to hold a leadership ballot.
Liberal MPs Phil Thompson and Jess Collins wrote to chief opposition whip Aaron Violi eaarly on Monday calling for a party room meeting to be scheduled in the next two days, as Thompson resigned from his junior frontbench role.
Angus Taylor and Jane Hume during the last term when they were shadow treasurer and spokeswoman for finance. Alex Ellinghausen
Claire Chandler and Matt O’Sullivan also stepped down from their portfolios this morning, while Victorian senator Jane Hume has started lobbying to become deputy leader of the Liberal Party.
One option under consideration in the Taylor camp is to appoint Moderate MP Tim Wilson as shadow treasurer if Hume becomes deputy.
Speaking to journalists at Parliament House in Canberra, Thompson said he called for a spill for the sake of younger Australians as he sought to “make Australia better for them, for children around the country, for all Australians”.
“The only way to do that is by getting rid of the turmoil that we’re in. To show the Australian people that were listening to them. They’ve sent a message. The polling doesn’t lie. We’ve seen that the people are quite upset. Well, the way that we act is by change, and nine months is enough time to be able to turn that around, and that hasn’t happened. That’s why we’re here,” Thompson said.
Member for Hume Angus Taylor departs after a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday 11 February 2026.Alex Ellinghausen
Ley has the right to schedule the meeting, which will be called either today or tomorrow. Taylor’s camp is confident they have the numbers to win.
Unusually, Taylor did not declare he was running for leader when he resigned on Wednesday, but is expected to do so later today.
Hume, who supports Taylor, started phoning colleagues, including incumbent deputy Ted O’Brien, late on Wednesday night after Taylor resigned from the frontbench, the first step to triggering a leadership spill.
Taylor is not running with Hume on a formal ticket, but the pair are linked because the senator will only run if Taylor’s bid for the leadership is successful.
More Taylor supporters, including senior MP James Paterson, are expected to follow him in quitting opposition portfolios, which can only be held by those who express support for the current leader.
Senator Claire Chandler.Alex Ellinghausen
Hume, a prominent moderate senator from Victoria, is one of the party’s most energetic and articulate performers on social media and broadcast and is viewed as the type of Liberal who can appeal to metropolitan voters.
But she was dumped from Ley’s shadow cabinet after the election following two significant campaign misfires, fronting the abandoned work-from-home policy and making an off-the-cuff remark about “Chinese spies” that was weaponised by Labor in the final days before the election.
Hume said the problem facing the Liberal Party was that “nobody is listening to us. We are not a credible alternative and something has to change”.
Speaking on 2GB radio on Thursday morning, Hume offered a glowing review of Taylor, saying: “He is a very deep thinker and a great intellect in our party. He’s got incredible experience at a number of portfolios … He’s very good in city seats, but he comes from a country seat himself and is, naturally, a country boy … he’s a very human human.”
Sussan Ley and the Liberal Party frontbench in question time on Wednesday.Dominic Lorrimer
Frontbencher Andrew Wallace said the majority of MPs want Ley to remain and Moderate Andrew Bragg argued Ley deserved more time.
“I think Sussan has been dealt a pretty difficult hand. She’s a tough person, and I think she ought to be given more time in the role, as I think most normal people would expect 12 months in a job is at least a reasonable attempt,” Bragg said on Sky News this morning. “It’s not clear to me what the alternative vision for Australia is.”
Goldstein MP Tim Wilson, also speaking to 2GB radio, said: “If a motion to spill the leadership is successful, I want to hear out the candidates, because what I want is clarity and vision about where we need to go, because we do need to be revealing clearly who we’re fighting for.”
Related Article
When Taylor lost a leadership vote to Ley last year, he was hampered in part by his contentious choice to run with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as his deputy. Hume is not as controversial a proposition because she is an experienced operator and former minister.
She has alienated her moderate faction with her support for Taylor, a right-winger, and some key members of the Right do not support her. Some of Ley’s supporters think they could use Hume’s candidacy to deter undecided MPs from voting for Taylor.
MPs including Wilson, Zoe McKenzie, Tim Wilson, Dan Tehan, and Melissa McIntosh have all been suggested as deputy options. Some in the Right are keen for Wilson, another Victorian from the moderate faction, to serve as shadow treasurer under Taylor.
Taylor’s delay fronting the media on Wednesday night puzzled some of his colleagues. Also, his office deleted a video he posted on social media explaining his move on Wednesday night, raising further questions about the decisiveness of his challenge.
Labor sharpened its attacks on Taylor on Thursday.
“The problem for Angus Taylor is that he was Peter Dutton’s right-hand man. He led the charge to lift taxes on Australians, to lift the deficits, to cut working from home, to cut tens of thousands of frontline jobs, and the kicker – to bring in nuclear energy to drive up power prices,” Environment Minister Murray Watt told Nine’s Today show.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.
Save
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Remove items from your saved list to add more.
Paul Sakkal is chief political correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and has won Walkley and Quill awards. Reach him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14Connect via X or email.Nick Newling is a federal politics reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.
