Australia's embattled Liberals tap former PM Abbott as party president, reinforcing rightward shift
Liberal Party's Leadership Shift and Political Challenges
By Peter Hobson
CANBERRA, May 29 (Reuters) - Australia's struggling opposition Liberal Party installed former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a pugnacious social conservative and campaigner against climate action, as its president on Friday, reinforcing its swing to the right as it works to regain power.
The centre-right Liberals dominated modern Australian politics but have been in turmoil after heavy election losses in 2022 and 2025 when they lost swathes of their traditional urban heartland to centrist independents and Labor.
Opinion polls now show them falling behind a rising populist right, led by the One Nation party.
Party Leadership and Policy Direction
Party leader Angus Taylor replaced a more centrist leader in February and immediately promised to slash immigration, cut taxes, unleash the mining and gas industries, and slow emissions reduction, all policies that Abbott supports.
Abbott's Vision for the Party
Addressing a party conference in Melbourne after being confirmed unopposed as president, Abbott said the Liberals were in "existential crisis" and Australia was in "a kind of spiritual malaise".
"It's not enough simply to have good policy. There has to be a strong organisation in the country to back our leader," he said. "Our job individually and collectively is to lead a people's revolt."
Abbott's new position is not a parliamentary role. He will lead the party organisation and have some sway over governance, membership, fundraising and strategic direction.
Expert Opinions on the Liberal Party's Future
"This is a party really on the ropes," said Zareh Ghazarian, associate professor of politics at Monash University.
"It needs to do something to get out of this rut," he said. "Bringing in a high-profile national president would potentially be a way to do that, putting the party on a more attacking footing."
Electoral Landscape and Abbott's Legacy
Polling and the Rise of One Nation
A CHAMPION TO VOTE FOR
A poll this week underlined the scale of the challenge for the Liberal Party, saying an election held now would give it 12 seats in the 150-seat federal parliament, its fewest ever, and wipe out its junior coalition partner, the Nationals.
Pauline Hanson's One Nation, a resurgent anti-immigration party, would win 53 seats to become the country's main right-wing group and parliamentary opposition party, the poll by Access Group and Redbridge found.
"It's been the Liberal Party's political timidity that's driven the rise of One Nation, with conservative voters despairing of ever again having a champion to vote for," Abbott wrote in a blog post this month.
Abbott's Political Background
The 68-year-old Abbott is a conservative Catholic, a staunch monarchist and a fitness fanatic. He is seen by his party as one of its greatest campaigners and is the most recent Liberal leader to win power from opposition.
2013 Election Victory and Downfall
He won the 2013 election in a landslide after a campaign powered by three-word slogans on illegal immigration, carbon taxes and government spending: 'stop the boats', 'axe the tax', 'stop the waste'. However, after just two years in power, he was deposed as Liberal leader and prime minister in a party-room vote.
Current Support and Criticism
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Taylor pointed to a media interview this week in which he welcomed Abbott to the role. "He's going to work with me and rebuild the party," Taylor said in the interview.
Sarah Cameron, a lecturer in public policy at Griffith University, said Abbott may help the Liberal Party cement conservative support but Australia's system of compulsory voting means elections are typically won in the centre ground.
Abbott lost his seat in parliament seven years ago to a centrist independent candidate, Zali Steggall.
Steggall told Reuters that voters "made a decisive choice in 2019 to reject the politics Mr Abbott represented: division, climate denial and culture wars."
"Reinstalling one of the key architects of the Liberal Party's decline suggests the party has learnt very little," she said.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Praveen Menon and John Mair)
