Angus Taylor already has the Federal Government unsure about how the electorate will receive him. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Angus Taylor is the new Opposition Leader and the Federal Government is just a tad worried.
How do we know this?
Labor has not stopped attacking him since the moment he was elected Liberal leader last Friday (13 February).
Actually, the onslaught of insults began well before that, as it became increasingly obvious that a challenge was imminent, and Taylor was odds-on to win.
The emphatic nature of his partyroom victory over Ley (34 votes to 17) shows the conservatives in the Coalition are back in control and in the ascendant once more.
Taylor and co have a huge task ahead of them if they are to make any dent at all in Labor’s commanding parliamentary majority, but the government is nonetheless concerned.
And here’s why.
The Liberal Party’s primary vote in current polling is dismal at barely 18 per cent, but that shouldn’t be interpreted as a drop in conservative appeal.
One Nation is on the surge, but it will never be in a position to form government at the federal level (any level, really).
Only the Liberal-Nationals Coalition can do that – and only if it gets its act together.
With Taylor’s immediate return to the hard right politics of immigration numbers, public service numbers, fossil fuels and nuclear energy, the Liberals hope to regain much of the support they bled to One Nation.
Mix that with being relentless about the cost of living, and the Opposition has a strategy.
Labor knows that, and it knows the Coalition will have some measure of success on that front.
Sussan Ley was an altogether refreshing move for the Liberal Party.
She was more reasonable, more moderate and more sensible than her male predecessors.
And that was never going to get the Coalition back into the Treasury seats of Federal Parliament.
Most swinging voters who found her policy positions palatable were still more likely to vote for Labor’s similar yet more appealing versions of the same.
Those who despised Ley’s reasonableness and softer approach looked to One Nation instead.
Labor enjoyed having Ley in the Opposition Leader’s seat because, despite her toughness (and Ley was as rough and ready as the rest of them), her dignity, respect and freshness augured well for the government.
Taylor is returning the party to the take-no-prisoners days of John Howard, Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton.
Check those names, and it is clear that hard-right, hard-headed tactics worked better for some than they did for others.
The fact that the hard right has squashed Labor in the past is enough for it to be rattled in the present.
There is little wonder then that Anthony Albanese, Jim Chalmers and the rest of Labor’s front bench are making a meal of critiquing Taylor’s track record.
Indeed, the Prime Minister is leading the charge against the new Opposition Leader in pillorying his past performances and gaffes.
There is a lot to criticise and even make fun of when it comes to Taylor’s stands (and falls) across several policy positions he has grasped and/or dropped.
And he has the current difficult task of trying to convince women voters, and even women inside the Liberal Party, that he is not just another middle-aged white male dinosaur.
The potential for the Coalition to slide even further down in the polls is very real.
But so too is the possibility that it gets a bump, and then another, and another, from conservative voters grateful for a real choice again.
Labor knows it and knows how quickly fortunes can and do change in politics.
The electorate is a fickle beast.
Best to remind it of the past; best to go hard and go early.
It’s back to the future, and there is no telling yet what voters will ultimately make of it.
