Who is Angus Taylor?

Who is Angus Taylor?

The Liberal Party has elected a new leadership team, with Angus Taylor taking over the top job from Sussan Ley, and Jane Hume promoted to his deputy. As the leader, Taylor has a big job ahead of him to resurrect the party’s popularity as its polling numbers continue to slide to record lows. So in this Squiz Shortcut, we’ll take a look at:

• Who Taylor is

• What he stands for

• And what his plans are to get the Liberal Party and the Coalition back on track…

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Squiz the Shortcut

Less than a year ago, we were reading about the Liberal Party’s first female leader in 80 years, Sussan Ley. What happened there…?
Politics is a numbers game and Ley wasn’t polling well. For months, polls have showed a pattern of voters drifting away from the Liberal Party - some to ‘teal’ independents, and others to the right-leaning One Nation. She also struggled holding the Liberal-National Coalition together, with the Nats walking away twice due to policy disagreements, and her political judgement was questioned by those in her own ranks over several incidents including her handling of the Bondi terror attack. So, after a leadership challenge by Angus Taylor, the Liberals (and in turn, the Coalition) now have their third leader in under a year.

Tell me about Angus Taylor…
He’s been a senior figure in the party for years now. He’s from the conservative ‘national right’ faction, and counts former PM Tony Abbott as a mentor. And in his time, he’s held ministries in the Turnbull and Morrison Governments, and more recently, while the Coalition has been in opposition, he’s held the shadow portfolios of treasury and defence.

Where is he from?
Taylor grew up in Southern NSW on a sheep and cattle property in between Canberra and the Snowy Mountains. He comes from a strong rural background - his father Peter was the Vice-President of the National Farmers Federation. His mother, Anne, died from cancer in her late forties - Taylor was in his early twenties and, coupled with the collapse of wool and beef prices, he says it was “an awful time” and his dad struggled to cope. 

What did he do before politics?
Taylor himself is a father of 4 - but he had plenty of roles before he came into politics, including working as a successful business consultant and entrepreneur. And you’ll probably hear a fair bit about the fact that he was a Rhodes scholar - something he shares in common with former PMs Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Bob Hawke, as well as former Labor leader Kim Beazley. 

What is a Rhodes scholar?
It means he received a scholarship to study at the University of Oxford in the UK… The award is named after Cecil John Rhodes, who founded it back in 1902. It includes financial support to study at Oxford and takes care of living expenses and the like… Rhodes' idea was that it would promote international understanding and peace by bringing together and developing ‘public-spirited’ future leaders from around the world. But it’s copped some flak over the years for excluding women and black Africans - and the fact that many graduates go into business rather than public service.

When did Taylor himself enter politics?
As we mentioned, he too went into the business sector - but he began his political career as the Member for Hume in 2013. To get your bearings - Hume is an electorate on the outskirts of south-west Sydney which takes in a burgeoning housing belt, as well as a much larger rural portion… 

Has he brought his business acumen to the table?
Yep… He’s all about advocating for less government regulation - particularly when it comes to building new homes. In one interview moment he said “I really hate fart-arsing around - I insist on getting things done. And yet that is what the government specialises in. It specialises in fart-arsing…” So we’ll see if he busts out that sort of terminology again now he’s the leader…

When did he come to the forefront of the Libs?
He really came to prominence following the Morrison Government’s defeat at the 2022 election. That’s when Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley were elected as leader and deputy leader - and Taylor got the gig as shadow treasury spokesperson. That role put him front and centre in last year’s election, where cost of living was a major issue. When Dutton stepped down, Taylor ran for the leadership but lost to Ley. And here we are 9 months later - the member for Hume has the job after all… 

Who has been made deputy leader this time?
The new deputy is Jane Hume. We know, there’s a lot of Humes to factor in... But in reference to Jane, she’s from Melbourne and she worked in the financial services industry for 20-plus years before entering politics as a Senator for Victoria at the 2016 election. She’s considered a more moderate member of the party, and she’s generally known for her sense of humour - but she didn’t come out of the 2025 election campaign very well…

What happened?
As the Coalition’s Finance and Public Service spokesperson, she championed their policy to force public servants to work from the office 5 days per week. It didn’t go down well - critics, the Labor Party, and unions argued it was an attack on women, who typically rely on flexible work to balance career and family… It was so unpopular as a policy that Dutton scrapped it mid-campaign. Following Ley’s election to the leadership, Hume was dropped from the Coalition’s frontbench…

So she’s made a comeback…
She sure has… Somewhat ironically, many political analysts have pointed out that her promotion is an important one in the wake of the Libs ditching their first female leader after 9 months in the job. They say it could potentially soften the blow of that, as well as keeping a member of the party’s more moderate wing in a position of influence…

Where is the Coalition bleeding votes?
As we mentioned early on, political analysts say the Coalition is leaking on 2 fronts. On its left flank, ‘teal’ independents (with climate as a key issue) are now representing many inner-city electorates that used to be safe Liberal seats. And on its right, or more conservative flank, One Nation has notched the sharpest polling rise in modern Australian history. 

What’s Taylor’s plan?
To shore up that right flank, it looks like he’s going to make immigration his touchstone issue early-on. He made that a key part of his first speech post-spill, saying he’ll make “Australian values” a priority, and “shut the door” on anyone who wants to - in his words - “import the hatred and violence of another place” or who doesn’t subscribe to the “core beliefs” of Australians. He also linked record immigration numbers to the housing crisis, saying it was driving excessive demand and he wants to “bring back the Australian dream” of home ownership. 

What else is he going to be focusing on?
Bringing down the cost of living for Australians will be another priority; to that order he says he’ll “ferociously fight” what he called “bad taxes” on homes, superannuation and manufacturing. And he’s signalled that he’s ready for a fight with the government when it comes to changes to capital gains tax discounts. He says he won’t support any changes there… 

And for Jane Hume’s part…?
Hume added that it’s high time for a “genuine reset” for the Liberal Party by returning to its core values as the “party of aspiration”. And rather than moving toward One Nation’s brand of far-right politics, Hume said the Libs would continue to focus on “mainstream Australians” rather than becoming “a party of grievance”. 

One more thing - I’ve seen a lot of memes around in the past few days with the same congratulatory message for Taylor: “Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus”. What’s that about…?
Ah yes… It stems from a 2019 facebook post where Taylor’s Facebook account was spruiking the addition of 1,000 extra carparks in his electorate. And then the same Facebook account commented “Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus”. We can only assume he (or a regretful staffer) forgot to switch accounts first. That comment was deleted - but not fast enough. It was captured and has morphed into a political meme that gets referenced again and again. 

Speaking of Taylor’s great moves, how long before we’ll know if the Libs’ leadership shake up has moved the dial for voters?
Early polling results through Resolve showed an immediate lift in support for the Coalition, bringing them back to 23% and level with One Nation. And to see whether a week or so makes even more of a difference, keep an eye out for the next Newspoll - it’s due early next month...

Onto our Recommendations

Listening: This episode of the political podcast Back to Back Barries featuring pollster Tony Barry discusses whether the election of Angus Taylor as Liberal leader is enough to stop the rise in support for One Nation…

Reading: This piece on news.com.au explores how Sussan Ley’s leadership unravelled…

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