AARON PATRICK: Why I wouldn’t marry Sussan Ley

Imagine you are married to Sussan Ley and she arrives home from work after badly damaging the family car, a government-financed white BMW.

The circumstances are murky. Another vehicle was involved: a Toyota LandCruiser with a full-size bull bar driven by a short, prideful man. Naturally, you have questions: what happened, is the car a write off and, if so, what will it be replaced with?

Sussan doesn’t want to talk about the car crash.

“It is regrettable and I know that many people feel that way,” she says when you mention the wreck outside that was dropped off by a tow truck a few hours earlier. “But as leader of the household, I’m getting on with the job of developing a credible, compelling agenda. We’ve started that work.”

You’re confused. After eight months’ living with Sussan, you still don’t know her well, but you instinctively feel she’s hard-working, honest and decent. Which is why you’re willing to give the benefit of the doubt. So what happened and what are you going to do about it, you ask.

“Let’s not forget where the current situation began,” she says. “I want to reflect a great sense of pride in what I’ve achieved. I know you’ve got to ask these questions, and I understand that.

“But can I really say this? We will come back to this house in a couple of weeks and do what we have done very successfully, particularly over summer, as a team. As a team that has the interests of this family front and centre.”

I get you don’t want to admit blame, you say in a frustrated tone, but can we discuss a new car? And why are you referring to yourself in the plural?

“It’s a day today to talk about Australia Day and this weekend I want to pause and acknowledge what it means to be Australian,” she says.

Conversations at Woolies

The intricacies of opposition politics may not interest most Australians. But the collapse of an alliance that has helped preserve political stability, in various forms, since 1923 is a matter of profound national importance.

Ms Ley’s deflection strategy is an insult to voters’ intelligence. By pretending the Coalition car wreck is not her most pressing challenge, Ms Ley undermines her credibility as a public figure.

She could have chosen to respond to the crisis directly, acknowledge the damage and explain how she plans to respond.

Instead of communicating plans essential to the operation of the democracy, in a few short interviews after the split, Ms Ley pretended she’s winning the daily political contest. Among other claimed successes, she took credit for anti-Semitism laws, even though a Federal racial-vilification crime wasn’t enacted because she couldn’t secure Coalition support for it.

To assume Australians aren’t following the Coalition’s problems is naive. This week, I overheard a couple in their 30s in the aisles at a Woolworths supermarket discussing the mechanics of appointing a front bench from only the Liberal Party, a problem that has to be resolved before Parliament resumes Tuesday.

The moment

Ms Ley’s culpability for the split is unclear. It looks like the Nationals, trying to shore up their right flank from a resurgent One Nation, embarked on a destabilisation campaign they hoped would lead to her replacement with a more conservative leader.

Whether it will succeed depends on whether Ms Ley can convince the roughly 50 per cent of Liberal MPs on the party’s left to support her. They are considering whether she can reunite the Coalition and mount a credible challenge to a government, which today looks safe, stable and sensible after overcoming the challenges of the Bondi massacre.

“We are watching the disintegration of the far right,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Wednesday. “It’s really descending into farce.”.

To keep her job and save the Liberal Party, Ms Ley should drop the sound bites and communicate with sophistication, honesty and passion.

Pivotal historical moments demand leaders operate at their finest. Examples include Josh Frydenberg’s speech at the Bondi Pavilion on December 17, Scott Morrison’s victory speech in the 2019 general election and Julia Gillard’s 2012 misogyny speech to Parliament.

Sussan, my would-be wife, this is that moment.