Politics

Federal

Political leadership

Opinion

James Massola Chief Political Commentator October 10, 2025 — 5.00am

Andrew Hastie’s resignation from the Coalition frontbench was all but inevitable after weeks of freewheeling commentary from the Perth MP on the direction and policies of the Liberal Party.

But it hasn’t brought the debates Hastie wants to an end; rather, from the backbench, he is now free to advocate positions and start developing a manifesto about where the Liberal Party, and modern Australia, is headed.

Hastie stoked leadership speculation – though after his resignation he stated that “there’s no challenge to Sussan [Ley], I support Sussan” – and caused a major headache for the opposition leader five months into the job.

The member for Canning has been unusua

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