JENI O’DOWD: Liberal leader Angus Taylor deserves a chance despite what early critics say

There were a few things that struck me the moment Angus Taylor emerged as Liberal leader on Friday.

The first was his willingness to immediately talk about immigration, an issue many of us feel very strongly about. The second was his warning to conservative voters openly flirting with One Nation that this could be the Coalition’s last chance.

And thirdly, the immediate pile-on that followed Taylor’s elevation. Within hours, the familiar chorus began. He’s not quite good enough; he has his work cut out for him, and he better watch out as Andrew Hastie is sitting on the sidelines quietly waiting to take over.

Can everyone just give the bloke a chance?

The other criticism was that he toppled a woman. This outrage was amplified by former leader Sussan Ley wearing the now-obligatory symbol of a white suit, as though clothing were a proxy for competence.

And Taylor was, apparently, just an “average” shadow treasurer.

Average? This bloke is a Rhodes Scholar. Not a perfect politician (there’s no such thing) but hardly the intellectual lightweight his critics would have you believe.

Then came the helpful contribution from former Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull, who could not resist weighing in from the sidelines, telling the ABC Taylor was the “best qualified idiot” for the leadership.

He added that although Mr Taylor’s educational background was impressive, he had not delivered “positive policy agendas”.

Spare me a lecture from Malcolm Turnbull. This is the same man who championed a republic model so out of touch it was rejected by 55 per cent of Australians, who knifed Tony Abbott by promising unity only to preside over chaos, and who couldn’t even hold his own party together when it mattered most.

His prime ministership ended the same way it began: with a leadership spill after he misread the room on energy policy and alienated both conservatives and moderates.

For someone with so much to say about who is and isn’t up to the job, his own record suggests he might want to sit this one out.

The truth is, the Liberal Party doesn’t have the luxury of perfection. They were never going to find a person with a mixture of Paul Keating’s rat cunning, John Howard’s pragmatism and Bob Hawke’s charisma. That person does not exist, and never will.

The disconnect between political reality and ordinary life was also on full display in the extraordinary parliamentary superannuation payout secured by former leader Sussan Ley, reportedly worth more than $200,000 a year for life.

It’s a taxpayer-funded pension most Australians could never dream of, locked in under a scheme that was scrapped in 2004 precisely because it was so generous it bordered on the absurd.

It made Ley’s decision to step away from politics all the more comfortable. Why sit on the backbench when you are financially secure for life and can gleefully watch from the sidelines the party fighting to retain the seat you left?

The Liberal Party needs a leader who has cut through, can reset the debate and reconnect with voters.

So far, Taylor has shown he’s up for the task.

He and his formidable deputy, Jane Hume, wasted no time steadying the party by quickly selling their vision and reassuring voters and fellow MPs that the Liberal Party still has a future.

As well as promising a tough immigration policy, they have signalled a broader energy policy, greater childcare flexibility, and have rejected any drift toward One Nation politics. On Tuesday, they unveiled a reshaped and renewed shadow ministry.

And, it was pure political gold when Hume told Sky News that Treasurer Jim Chalmers was relying on “nonsense numbers” pulled from “a place where the sun doesn’t shine” after he questioned Taylor’s economic record.

Her comments were blunt, effective and did exactly what an Opposition is supposed to do.

After years of drifting, the Coalition suddenly looks more focused, more confident and prepared to make its case.

Taylor has not put a foot wrong so far.

Write him off at your peril.