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Transcripts
February 12, 2026
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Good morning. At the last election, which was the Coalition’s most devastating defeat almost 5 million Australians voted for us. They put their trust in us. Over the last nine months, according to the most recent opinion polls, 2.1 million of those people have since deserted the Coalition. That's more than 200,000 votes a month. It's more than 50,000 votes a week. It's more than 7,000 votes a day. This cannot go on. If it goes on, there'll be nothing left of the Liberal Party by the next election. It's for those reasons that this morning I tendered my resignation to the Leader of the Liberal Party, Sussan Ley. It's something that I didn't do lightly. It's something I did with a heavy heart. Sussan is a decent person. She is a good Liberal. She has been dealt many tough hands in the last nine months. But I no longer have confidence in her ability to turn this ship around, to get our party back on track before the next election. And a result of that, I had to resign my position in the Shadow Ministry to tell her that I'd be supporting a spill motion when the party room is convened. If a spill motion is successful, I'll be voting for Angus Taylor as leader. Angus is the smartest policy brain in the Shadow Cabinet. He is a man of deep conviction and courage and values. And most importantly, Angus understands that this is a change or die moment for the Liberal Party. We must change or we will not continue to exist. Happy to take a couple of questions.
JOURNALIST: How will you change? What will change under Angus Taylor?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Let's go, Cam.
JOURNALIST: What policies will change if the leadership changes?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Look, I'm not Angus' spokesman. It's up to him to outline his agenda. He's doing that right now with colleagues. And if he is successful, he will stand up and articulate an agenda. But he has also made it very clear in the public comments that he has made so far that he has two priorities. The first is to restore Australians’ standard of living, which have been absolutely smashed under this government over the last four years. Australians feel poorer, and that's because they are. The second is to defend the Australian way of life. Many Australians feel that our way of life is under attack, and Bondi was just the worst, most recent moment of that. Those are Angus' priorities, and I think they're priorities that will appeal to the vast majority of Australians.
JOURNALIST: They don't sound different. They don't sound different to the things that Sussan Ley has been saying. So what evidence is there that this do or die moment will be fixed by Angus Taylor?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: That remains to be seen. This will not be an easy task, nor will it be a very quick exercise in restoring the Liberal Party's vote. But right now, about a third of our voters have left us. It is very clear that the only way we can earn their support back is to demonstrate to them that we've changed direction. The best way that we can demonstrate that we’ve changed direction is to change leaders. And if we do that, Angus will have an opportunity to outline to the Australian people why the Liberal Party deserves, again, their trust and support.
JOURNALIST: You're part of the leadership team. You've been in Shadow Cabinet. What responsibility do you take in the fact that the Liberal Party is at such a poor moment? Like, is this all Sussan Ley's fault?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: That is a very good question and a very fair question. And in my resignation letter to Sussan Ley this morning, I said this is not solely her fault. I take my share of responsibility for this. Every member of parliament must take responsibility for this. This is collective responsibility. And I believe we need to make a collective decision to move into a different direction. I believe it will be necessary to do that under a different leader. But whether we succeed after this won't just be down to whether we have a new leader or who that new leader is. It will be down to all of us, the work we do and the collegiality that we demonstrate.
JOURNALIST: Senator, if Sussan Ley is taken out today, the burden that you will carry is that you will have brought down the Liberal Party's first female leader. Does that weigh heavily on you?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: Look, some people have been making this argument over the last couple of days. My observation would be that that argument was not successful for Julia Gillard in the Labor Party. I don't believe it will be successful for Sussan Ley in the Liberal Party. Political leaders are judged on their performance, not on their gender.
[Interjections]
And, please let me finish. And I think it's now very clear what the verdict on Sussan Ley's leadership is. Newspoll shows she is at -39 personal approval rating. That is the worst performance of an opposition leader in 23 years. You have to go back to Simon Crean. You have to go...
[Interjections]
Let me finish and I'll answer that too. You have to go back to 2003 and Simon Crean to find an Opposition Leader who has polled so badly. Sometimes Prime Ministers can recover from bad opinion polls, but it is very difficult for Opposition Leaders to do so, and I don't believe she'll do so. To your point, Andrew, about whether there's been sniping, yes, there has. It's been a great source of frustration and disappointment to me. I don't think that is a good way to conduct ourselves. I have tried very diligently and sincerely, despite not voting for Sussan
nine months ago, to make her leadership a success. It is with great regret that it hasn't been. I'll take one more question over here.
JOURNALIST: On the opinion polls, you said it will take a long time to recover. Do you think that the polls will go down from here? Can things get worse for the party even if you do change leader?
SENATOR JAMES PATERSON: I think there is a risk that, given what has happened over the last few weeks, that there will be continued harsh judgment from the Australian people and we will have to work very hard to earn back their trust and support. We're not entitled to anyone's support. We're not entitled to anyone's vote. The Liberal Party is not entitled to continue to exist as a centre-right force in this country forevermore. We have to earn that, and I'm very determined to do that. Thank you everyone.
ENDS