Andrew Hastie refuses to rule out challenging Sussan Ley for leadership of Liberal Party

Andrew Hastie has refused to rule out challenging Sussan Ley for the Liberal Party leadership before the next election, just days after resigning as shadow home affairs minister.

On Monday morning in Perth, preparing to board a flight to Canberra to face Ms Ley for the first time since quitting her frontbench, Mr Hastie was non-committal about going for the top job.

“I’m not going to get into hypotheticals,” he said.

“I’m just keen to be passionate about Australia, and I’m passionate about our future, and I’m passionate about young Australians and making sure that they have a stake in the future of our country.”

When asked whether he would have handled his exit from the shadow cabinet any differently, Mr Hastie said: “No, I’m happy with where I’m at.”

It’s understood he decided to quit after a period of reflection and only told a couple of confidantes before going public.

The Canning MP has made no secret of his leadership ambitions, although he regularly brushes aside speculation over an imminent challenge, citing his young family as his current priority.

Speaking at the weekend about his decision to quit the shadow ministry, Mr Hastie insisted: “There’s no challenge to Sussan, I support Sussan.”

His allies within the party agree no challenge is imminent but note things could look different in a year’s time.

Ms Ley’s backers continue to call for her to be given a fair go.

One said she needed 12-18 months to develop and start launching a full policy agenda.

Senior conservative senator James Paterson said the party was having “a big and appropriate debate about our future direction” but that it “can’t go on forever”.

“I think it’s also normal and natural after a big election defeat for the supporters of our party to question our role, and we have to re-earn their trust and support, just as we also have to re-earn the trust and support of the swinging voters as well. It’s not an either/or proposition,” he said.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison called on his party to focus on the core issues it stood for on the economy, security and Defence.

“I obviously want to see the Liberal Party focusing on the things that can ensure that it can return to government in the future, and I wish them all the best with that task,” he said.

“Obviously, it’s challenging when there are other competing issues out there.”

Andrew Hastie wants to re-imagine the Liberals, not plot against Sussan Ley, that’s why he’s so dangerous

Michaelia Cash – who has backed the WA Liberal Party’s call to dump net zero, one of the issues Mr Hastie has campaigned on – said Ms Ley was giving colleagues the space to have policy debates.

“We have all made it very, very clear, Sussan is our leader. She has our backing,” Senator Cash said.

“But at the end of the day, our focus needs to be squarely on holding this government to account, not on ourselves. That is what the Australian people expect.”

Another Liberal feared the party wasn’t capable of having nuanced policy debate, while another said it was always preferable to soul-search behind closed doors.

Mr Hastie announced his resignation late on Friday, saying publicly that he couldn’t agree to a charter letter Ms Ley had sent that said he wouldn’t be leading the development of immigration policy despite being the shadow home affairs minister.

Queensland senator Paul Scarr holds the specific immigration portfolio, but is in the outer shadow ministry while Mr Hastie was in the shadow cabinet.

Senator Scarr has previously said he didn’t believe Australia was experiencing “mass migration”, while Mr Hastie has backed Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s stance against “mass migration”.

Two people familiar with the charter letters Ms Ley sent to all her frontbenchers said those in senior roles received instructions that outlined expectations for them and detailed what the outer and assistant shadow ministers in their space would be doing.

They could see how Mr Hastie had landed on his interpretation of the instructions, but said there was little difference to how the Home Affairs and Immigration roles had interacted under Peter Dutton and Mr Morrison.

Mr Dutton has told the Liberal Party’s internal review of its election loss that Mr Hastie had effectively gone “on strike” during the last term and didn’t complete work on Defence policies, according to the Nine newspapers.

Nick Minchin, who is working on the review, told The West Mr Dutton had not made any written submission but had given an interview to himself and co-reviewer Pru Goward.

“Peter avoided, in his meeting with us, any criticism of his shadow ministers,” Mr Minchin said.