angus taylor is weighing whether to back Tony Abbott’s bid for the federal Liberal presidency, with the contest set to unfold in Melbourne later this month. Taylor has called Abbott a great friend and a great Australian, but moderate Liberals fear his support would hand Abbott a platform that distracts from Taylor’s leadership.
Taylor and Abbott
Taylor said on the eve of the Farrer byelection that Abbott was going to keep making a magnificent contribution to this country. Asked again whether he would back Abbott’s tilt, Taylor said Abbott would make his own decisions.
Abbott wants to nominate if Taylor supports him. He said he would be happy to respond to a credible call to serve as president, and that he would be striving to make Taylor Australia’s 32nd prime minister.
Melbourne council vote
The party’s federal council will choose a president to replace John Olsen when it meets in Melbourne later this month. The presidency is unpaid and oversees the party’s administrative wing and campaigning infrastructure, while working at arm’s length from the parliamentary party.
That structure is why the contest has become sensitive. One Liberal source said many inside the party already considered Abbott a shadow opposition leader, while a moderate Liberal said people would not want to think Taylor had delegated power to another former prime minister.
Abbott’s party role
Abbott said the president’s job would be to support Taylor to win. He also said Australia remains the greatest country on earth, but the Liberal Party needs a rejuvenation to arrest its current decline and restore hope to future generations.
Moderate Liberals fear Abbott would be a continual distraction for Taylor because of his profile and hardline views on immigration. Abbott lost his seat in federal parliament almost seven years ago, and the presidency would place him back in a party role that normally stays out of the media spotlight.
For Taylor, the immediate decision is not about a policy change but about who sits in a post that helps run the party’s machinery. If he backs Abbott, the issue moves from private speculation to a public test of whether he wants a former prime minister helping shape the party’s organisational fight.
