All on the same team: The Canberra Liberals’ new shadow cabinet. Photo: Canberra Liberals.
The Canberra Liberals have endured some tough years. 2025 was one of the worst.
What was so infuriating for many Liberal voters was that the returned Labor Government in 2025 was like a drunk driver careering down a street crashing into one obstacle after another but the Opposition failed to capitalise.
Instead of being united and focused on holding Labor to account, the Liberal party room was consumed with bitter divisions that saw a former Leader and shadow cabinet member refusing to serve under the leadership team – an unacceptable state of affairs for such a small party room and the multiplicity of portfolios to cover.
Elizabeth Lee never accepted losing the leadership after the 2024 defeat. Jeremy Hanson wanted it but had to settle for being Leanne Castley’s Deputy, leaving him open to being called the puppet master.
It would be a disservice to Ms Castley to label her as a puppet but her ascension was a surprise.
The tensions were obvious from the start, with Ms Lee refusing to take a portfolio and wanting to do her own thing from the backbench.
Mark Parton, the party’s best communicator, opted for the quiet civility of the Speaker’s chair.
In June, Peter Cain joined MS Lee on the backbench, citing disillusionment with the Leader and Deputy and their decision-making practices.
In September, Ms Lee accused Ms Castley of freezing her out out with new rules excluding backbenchers from taking part in the decision-making processes of shadow cabinet. Mr Cain backed Ms Lee.
Come late October and a vote on the number of sitting weeks for 2026 comes up in the Legislative Assembly and the Liberals are going to side with Labor on reducing the number from 13 to 12
Mr Cain and Ms Lee disagree and cross the floor, a time-honoured Liberal privilege.
The move infuriated Ms Castley who suspended the pair from the party room. While the rebels proclaimed to anybody who’d listen that being able to cross the floor was what being a Liberal was all about and argued the party shouldn’t be cutting back on the ability to hold Labor to account in the Assembly, Ms Castley was silent.
It brought to a head tensions that had been simmering away all year, again leaving the party’s credibility shredded.
The party had already been the butt of jokes that the real opposition was the Greens.
Mark Parton and Deborah Morris after being elected to the leadership of the Canberra Liberals. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
Something had to give. Out of a crisis party room meeting in November, Mr Parton emerged, a little surprised, as Leader and first-term MLA Deborah Morris as Deputy Leader.
For many it’s been a long time coming for Mr Parton, considered a moderate, but the reality is he didn’t previously have the numbers and there were doubts about whether had the ambition.
One who certainly has the ambition is Ms Morris, who is aligned with the Right and has links to former senator Zed Seselja.
Ms Lee and Mr Cain returned to the fold and shadow cabinet duties and Mr Hanson in a bookend to his political career took the Speaker’s chair.
Liberal warrior Jeremy Hanson is now the Speaker. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
Mr Parton said the new team would bring energy, experience and accountability at a pivotal moment for the ACT.
“The renewed line-up reflects our commitment to building an alternative government that restores trust, makes housing affordable, fixes our health system, keeps our streets safe, ends waste and returns fiscal responsibility,” he said.
“We’ve sorted ourselves out … and we’re looking forward to prosecuting all matters of importance and sticking up for the people out in the suburbs.
“We are here to reclaim Canberra for suburban Canberrans.”
But the Canberra Liberals will again be on probation with voters. 2026 will be a proving ground for the new-look leadership and reveal just how united the party is, or whether the divisions are just papered over.
The old adage that a party that can’t govern themselves can’t govern at all holds true.
It’s not as if Mr Parton doesn’t have ready-made attack lines after a year that Labor would love to forget. Difficult as the resources-strapped nature of Opposition is, the Liberals will also have to fashion some practical policies in 2026.
With the end of the Barr era looming, a revitalised Opposition under a popular leader with cut-through has an opportunity to offer a credible alternative after a generation of Labor rule.
At the organisation level, it will be interesting to see how a shift back to the Right, interestingly with Ms Morris’s husband Adam as president, plays out. The November AGM attracted fewer members than the previous one and some members still find the environment intimidating.
But the Parton result shows pragmatism is now in vogue.
A positive end to the year for the party was the early preselection of former party president and successful businessman Nick Tyrrell as the lead Senate candidate for the next federal election, also due in 2028.
Shifting Senators David Pocock and Katy Gallagher will be no easy task but the final weeks of 2025 left Federal Labor bruised from the expenses revelations and how the Albanese Government responds to the Bondi shootings will also be critical.
The political pendulum can turn very quickly these days.
