{"id":659222,"date":"2026-05-09T05:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T05:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/659222\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T05:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T05:41:12","slug":"angus-taylor-has-rocks-in-his-head-if-he-backs-tony-abbott-for-federal-liberal-presidency-insiders-say-australian-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/659222\/","title":{"rendered":"Angus Taylor has \u2018rocks in his head\u2019 if he backs Tony Abbott for federal Liberal presidency, insiders say | Australian politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angus Taylor has \u201crocks in his head\u201d if he endorses Tony Abbott\u2019s tilt at the federal Liberal presidency, according to insiders who warn the former prime minister would stir up drama and distraction for the opposition leader and his struggling party.<\/p>\n

A contest is shaping up between Abbott and former foreign minister Alexander Downer to replace ex-South Australian premier John Olsen<\/a> as Liberal Party president when the party\u2019s federal council meets in Melbourne later this month.<\/p>\n

Almost seven years after losing his seat in federal parliament<\/a>, Abbott wants to return to frontline politics and will nominate for the president\u2019s position if Taylor \u2013 a conservative factional ally \u2013 supports him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be happy to respond to a credible call to serve the party as president. I want the Liberal Party to be the best version of itself and in any capacity at all will be striving to make Angus Taylor Australia\u2019s 32nd prime minister,\u201d Abbott said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The federal presidency is an unpaid role that oversees the party\u2019s administrative wing and campaigning infrastructure, working at arm\u2019s length from the parliamentary party and typically away from the media spotlight.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

But moderate Liberals fear that Abbott would present a continual distraction for Taylor given his profile and hardline views, in particular about immigration.<\/p>\n

One Liberal source said many inside the party already considered Abbott as a \u201cshadow opposition leader\u201d, such is his influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Abbott) doesn\u2019t want to be a sideshow, he wants to be the main character,\u201d they said. \u201cWe don\u2019t need more drama.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another source said Abbott would not be able to resist acting as a de-facto leader and influencing policy from the president\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re putting yourself forward to the Australian public as an[alternative] prime minister, people don\u2019t want to think you\u2019ve delegated power to another former prime minister,\u201d one moderate Liberal of Taylor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Angus does that he\u2019s got rocks in his head.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his statement to Guardian Australia, Abbott said that, as a former parliamentary leader, he understood the president\u2019s job would be to support Taylor to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia remains the greatest country on earth, but our nation needs a rejuvenated Liberal Party to arrest our current decline and restore hope to future generations that our best days are still ahead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the eve of the Farrer byelection, Taylor praised Abbott as a great friend and a great Australian but said it was up to him if he wanted to run for the presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cTony is going to keep making a magnificent contribution to this country, as he has in the past,\u201d the opposition leader said.<\/p>\n

Asked again if he would back Abbott\u2019s tilt, Taylor said: \u201cI think he\u2019s going to make a big contribution and it\u2019s up to him \u2026 he\u2019ll make his own decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nominations for the position will open in the next fortnight before the federal council meeting on 29-30 May.<\/p>\n

Two senior sources doubted the president\u2019s position would be contested, suggesting either Abbott or Downer would step aside to allow the other a clear run.<\/p>\n

Liberals close to Abbott believe the 68-year-old still craves a return to federal parliament and would be prepared to pass over the presidency in the hope of securing a seat.<\/p>\n

Downer confirmed he would nominate for the position, which he described as an \u201cadministrative job, not a policy job\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be going into it to promote particular policies \u2026 but to give back to a political party which has given so much to me over the years. These are difficult times for the Liberal Party. So I think some of us who benefited during the Howard government ought to give something back to the party when it\u2019s in some difficulty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Angus Taylor has \u201crocks in his head\u201d if he endorses Tony Abbott\u2019s tilt at the federal Liberal presidency,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-659222","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\/659222","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=659222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}