lose his seat to a teal independent<\/a> at the 2022 federal election. He wrangled the seat back off Zoe Daniel in 2025.<\/p>\nThe 45-year-old is in the party\u2019s moderate wing and has not been shy about his ambitions to one day lead the party.<\/p>\n
Zoe McKenzie<\/p>\n
Member for Flinders, Victoria<\/p>\n
The 53-year-old represents the seat of Flinders on Victoria\u2019s Mornington Peninsula. While only her second term in parliament, she is already considered a rising star.<\/p>\n
Under Ley\u2019s leadership, McKenzie has served as the assistant minister for mental health and for education and early learning since 2025. While she has parliamentary committee experience too, she is considered one of the more inexperienced candidates for deputy leader.<\/p>\n
McKenzie is in the moderate wing of the party and defeated the teal independent Ben Smith at the 2025 federal election.<\/p>\n
Member for Flinders Zoe McKenzie. Photograph: Mick Tsikas\/AAPMelissa McIntosh<\/p>\n
Member for Lindsay, New South Wales<\/p>\n
McIntosh has also made no secret of her ambition to lead the Liberal party, previously telling supporters she would be honoured to serve \u201cone day\u201d.<\/p>\n
The frontbencher has been slated by some internally as a possible candidate for the deputy position under Taylor but has been described by some colleagues as too inexperienced.<\/p>\n
The 48-year-old was first elected to the outer western Sydney seat of Lindsay in 2019, sits in the centre-right faction, and is an ally and former chief-of-staff for Alex Hawke, the Liberal frontbencher.<\/p>\n
McIntosh is the shadow communications minister and shadow minister for women on Ley\u2019s frontbench.<\/p>\n
Dan Tehan<\/p>\n
Member for Wannon, Victoria<\/p>\n
The shadow minister for energy and emissions reductions under Ley, Tehan has been in the middle of the Coalition\u2019s fight about climate change and net zero by 2050 policies.<\/p>\n
First elected in the Victorian seat of Wannon in 2010, Tehan\u2019s mother, Marie Tehan, was in Victorian politics, including serving as the state\u2019s health minister. He has held senior ministerial portfolios in Canberra, including education, trade and social services.<\/p>\n
The 58-year-old was briefly discussed as a possible leadership candidate after the election but did not contest the race. Tehan confirmed he would run on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n
Member for Wannon Dan Tehan. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh\/Getty ImagesMelissa Price<\/p>\n
Member for Durack, Western Australia<\/p>\n
A former environment minister, the Western Australian MP said on Thursday she planned to nominate for the deputy leadership.<\/p>\n
A lawyer and the member for Durack, a seat which covers much of the top part of WA, she was first elected in 2013.<\/p>\n
Price ruled out running for the leadership this week, citing the poor treatment of Ley over the past nine months. She has previously held ministerial responsibility for defence industry and science.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve got a lot to offer, I\u2019m very experienced, I\u2019ve been there since 2013. I think I\u2019d be a good counterbalance to Angus, should he become the leader,\u201d she told ABC radio on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Ted O\u2019Brien<\/p>\n
Member for Fairfax, Queensland<\/p>\n
Some moderates want Ley\u2019s deputy and the opposition treasury spokesperson to stay in the role. O\u2019Brien was first elected as the member for Fairfax in 2016.<\/p>\n
He spent his early career wearing many hats; a trainee baker, management consultant, lobbyist. He is a former chair of the Australian Republican Movement and a former director of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games organising committee.<\/p>\n
As the shadow minister for climate change, O\u2019Brien was the architect of Peter Dutton\u2019s much criticised policy for government-owned and operated nuclear power plants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jane Hume Dumped by Ley from the frontbench after the Coalition\u2019s 2025 election loss, the Victorian senator has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-476022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}