45m agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 10:57pm

Liberal vice-president won’t be drawn on if review should be made public

Fiona Scott, the federal vice-president of the Liberal Party, was reluctant to dwell on Sussan Ley’s axing when asked this morning.

She said Ley had been a “formidable” parliamentarian but the pols were dire.

“At the end of the day on Monday last week we had a Newspoll with a one in front of it. Clearly as a Liberal Party we’ve been getting … a lot of things wrong over the last few years. And you know, at some point when you’re being outpolled by One Nation, you need to maybe reset and ensure we … are representing the Australian public,” she told ABC’s Radio National Breakfast.

Asked if Angus Taylor would suffer the same fate if the opinion polls did not improve, Scott said that “everybody should be judged on the polling”.

“The Liberal Party needs to find a pathway forward, and that’s what’s important right now.”

Scott also repeatedly refused to be drawn on if a review into the Liberal Party’s election campaign would be made public.

“Look, I’m not free to talk about that. I’m sorry. It’s an internal party matter and that’s not something I can talk about,” she said.

1h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 10:20pm

Will the Liberal review be released?

Angus Taylor will not be drawn on whether a review into the Liberal Party’s election campaign should be made public.

The release was initially delayed when former opposition leader Peter Dutton raised concerns that elements were defamatory to him and his staff.

The report was undertaken by former NSW minister Pru Goward and former federal finance minister Nick Minchin, following the disastrous 2025 election result.

Sussan Ley (when she was leader) had committed to releasing the details.

Taylor was today asked if he would do the same. Speaking on Channel Nine he dodged the question on two occasions.

“That is a matter for the party organisation,” he said.

“What we will do is where we believe we have made mistakes we will fess up, we will get it right and we will get on with fighting for the Australian people.”

1h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 10:02pm

First-year enrolments reach record high(ABC News: Matt Roberts)

First-year enrolments at Australian universities have reached a record high, as more students enter social work, engineering, science, teaching and nursing degrees.

Education Minister Jason Clare told ABC’s AM that wasn’t on accident.

“It’s happening because we’re investing more in universities to enable people to do those courses,” he said.

Clare was asked whether increasing course costs for humanities, which were raised under the Morrison-era Job Ready Graduates scheme, had anything to do with it.

The minister said the scheme had failed and the government was working on making changes. A new commission to look at a new funding model for universities has yet to be rubber-stamped by parliament.

“Hopefully that will pass through the parliament when [it] returns in March … The Senate committee is looking at that legislation right now. We’re expecting its report at the end of the week,” he said.

Clare also brushed off questions the government could offer further student debt relief in the upcoming budget.

“I won’t preempt what might be or might not be in the budget,” he said.

2h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 9:31pm

Negotiations with Greens on super tax changes ongoing

Circling back to Jim Chalmer’s interview on ABC’s Radio National Breakfast for a moment.

The treasurer was asked how negotiations with the Greens on a bid to double the tax on super fund earnings above $3 million from 15 per cent to 30 per cent, and to 40 per cent on earnings from funds with a balance higher than $10m.

Talks between Jim Chalmers and the Greens are ongoing. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)

Chalmers said he met with Greens spokesperson Nick McKim last week but those discussion hadn’t reached a conclusion.

“I certainly appreciate the constructive way that they’re coming at this,” he said.

“They know that it’s been introduced to the House. It’ll be in the Senate before long. Our hope is that it will be resolved as soon as possible.”

2h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 9:22pmDumping Ley won’t make it harder for a woman to lead the Liberals: Hume

Deposing Sussan Ley as Liberal leader won’t make it harder for a woman to lead the party in the future, new deputy Jane Hume says.

“No, not at all,” she told Nine. “In fact, I think Sussan Ley would see that as an enormous insult if we spoke about this only in terms of gender.

“The most important thing we can do now is reset, because this is an existential crisis for us.”

(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

2h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 9:19pm

Taylor repeats it was a ‘mistake’ not to take tax cuts to election

Back to Angus Taylor and Jane Hume’s joint morning media tour. The new opposition leader has reiterated it was a mistake for the Coalition not to take tax cuts to the last election.

Taylor and Hume were shadow treasurer and shadow finance minister at the last election. Asked if they think they’re tainted by the result, Taylor said he’s owned up to the error.

“We all make mistakes. The important thing is to say, to admit it, to make sure we don’t make them again,” Taylor told Nine.

“The thing we’ve learned here is that Australians want to see a Liberal Party that is a party of convictions not a party that goes with the politics of convenience.”

2h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 9:08pmChalmers continues to insist he has no plans for capital gains tax discount changes

Meanwhile, the treasurer is continuing to insist the government has no current plans to make changes to the capital gains tax discount.

The government is considering whether to scale back the tax break ahead of the May budget.

“We haven’t changed our tax policies,” Jim Chalmers told ABC’s Radio National Breakfast. 

“We know there are intergenerational issues in our economy and in our budget. We’re dealing with them in other ways, building more homes, making it easier to save for a deposit at the same time we cut income taxes.”

It’s likely Chalmers will continue to repeat this line that their policies haven’t changed right up until, you know, the policies change.

We’ve seen this before: remember the reworked stage three tax cuts, anyone??

2h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 8:57pm

Chalmers accuses Liberals of playing politics on migration

Jim Chalmers is accusing the Coalition of playing politics with migration after the new leadership team flagged a tougher policy in a bid back voters.

New overseas migration has dropped in recent months after spiking when Labor came to government in 2022. Speaking with ABC’s Radio National Breakfast, the treasurer defended the government’s approach.

“We’ve made it very clear that the spike that we saw towards the end of the Coalition period in office and at the start of our time in office was not sustainable, that we needed to get net overseas migration down,” he says.

The treasurer went on the attack and accused the Liberals of not taking the lessons from the last election.

“It’s so important that we’re doing this in a considered and methodical way rather than trying to play politics with it, which is what our opponents are doing,” he says.

3h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 8:41pmNuclear should be in the mix, Taylor says(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

Angus Taylor and Jane Hume are also stopping by the morning shows together.

The new Liberal leadership team told Seven they’re not under any illusions about the task ahead of them to turn the party’s electoral fortunes around as opinion polls suggest Coalition voters have turned to One Nation.

“One Nation is really a party of grievance but people are rightly aggrieved right now … they’re looking for answers. They weren’t finding it in the Liberal Party. That’s why this reset is needed,” Hume says.

After he was elected leader on Friday, Taylor flagged a focus on migration and deregulation.

Asked whether the Liberals would return to the nuclear power policy it took to the last election, Taylor said it should be part of Australia’s energy mix.

“I think we need to open up our energy system to all available technologies,” he says.

“The ideology we have seen from Labor where they only like some fuels, they hate others, is leading to huge increases in prices.”

3h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 8:26pm

Chalmers mocks Taylor’s request for spending audit

Jim Chalmers has hit the morning television circuit, where he’s brushing off a call for a joint taskforce to tackle spending cuts.

The treasurer poked fun at the letter the new opposition leader sent to the prime minister as he rejected the proposal.

“He talked a big game on Friday. He said it was the Liberal Party’s change or die moment. It turns out all he had in mind was to write a strongly worded letter to Anthony [Albanese],” he told Nine.

Asked what was wrong with the idea, Chalmers argues the government already knows its got more work to do ahead of the budget in May.

3h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 8:18pmTaylor writes to PM to call for joint spending audit

New opposition leader Angus Taylor wants the government to set up a bipartisan taskforce to find areas to trim in the upcoming budget.

Taylor wrote to the PM to request the group be established to “identify practical, responsible and jointly supported measures for spending restraint”.

“Record levels of government expenditure are contributing to higher inflation, upward pressure on interest rates and a growing public debt burden that will ultimately fall on future generations of Australians,” Taylor said.

“Given the scale of the fiscal challenge and the need to provide urgent cost-of-living relief to Australian
families, this structured, bipartisan mechanism offers a credible pathway to restoring fiscal discipline,
rebuilding confidence, reducing the high rate of inflation and helping to ease pressure on interest rates.”

3h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 8:10pm

Liberal Party divided over future direction

Internal machinations in the right wing of the Liberal Party are threatening to divide the party further after a tumultuous start to the political year that culminated in a change of leadership.

New leader Angus Taylor is seeking to unify the party that has already divorced its Coalition partner this year, and his elevation to the top job all but confirms the Liberals will shift further to the right in a bid to counter One Nation’s surging popularity.

A tougher immigration policy is central to his vision as opposition leader, declaring on Friday, “the door must be shut” to people who don’t align with “Australian values”.

The party is yet to announce any policies, but senior sources have told Four Corners that the Liberal Party is actively discussing a controversial approach to immigration inspired by a recent UK Labour policy.

3h agoSun 15 Feb 2026 at 7:46pm

Good morning 👋

Hello friends and welcome to our federal politics live blog. It’s great to have you joining us this morning.

I’m Courtney Gould, joining you from the ABC’s team here in Parliament House ready to bring you all the latest.

Well, I hope you all had a nice break after the drama and intrigue that came along with last week’s Liberal leadership spill. Newly minted Opposition Leader Angus Taylor will be out on the breakfast television circuit as he begins his bid to win over voters.

But what about the government, I hear you ask. We’ll also be hearing from Treasurer Jim Chalmers first up. I’m sure he’ll be asked a series of questions about reports he’s considering an overhaul to the capital gains tax discount.

Let’s just dive in and see where the day takes us, shall we?

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