| Angus Taylor is the new leader of the Liberal Party. Who is he? |
** In his maiden speech to parliament, he spoke of his experience as a
small business owner and his disdain for excessive government
regulation.
|
Angus Taylor is the new leader of the Liberal Party. Who is he?
Story by political reporter Samantha Dick
13/02/2026
(See translation in Arabic section)
Sydney-Middle East Times Int'l: After months of speculation, Angus Taylor has been chosen as the next Liberal leader after declaring he is the man to bring the party back from what many fear is the edge of obscurity.
The New South Wales MP beat Sussan Ley 34 votes to 17 on Friday, days after he resigned from the front bench to allow him to run.
He's the son of a sheep farmer, a former consultant, an agribusiness entrepreneur and a Rhodes scholar with degrees in economics and law — although economics was his preferred academic pursuit.
He's also a father of four.
In his maiden speech to parliament, he spoke of his experience as a small business owner and his disdain for excessive government regulation.
He also railed against "insidious political correctness", telling the chamber free speech and property rights were being "chipped away by shrill elitist voices".
More recently, Taylor served as shadow treasurer under former opposition leader Peter Dutton during the Coalition's dismal 2025 election campaign.
On his watch, the opposition went to the election promising to deliver bigger budget deficits than Labor in its first two years, although some have blamed that on late policy development by shadow ministers.
Shortly after Labor's landslide election victory, outgoing Liberal senator Hollie Hughes slammed Taylor over a lack of economic policy, saying, "I don't know what he's been doing for three years".
Under the Turnbull government, Taylor campaigned to fix mobile phone black spots in his electorate and played a major role in upgrading the digital platform, myGov.
His career progressed under former prime minister Scott Morrison, holding energy and emissions reductions portfolios from 2018 to 2022.
It was while he was in that role that the Liberals backed net zero by 2050, a policy he later campaigned against when the Coalition ultimately ditched it last year.
Taylor catapulted himself into social media fame in 2019 when he replied to his own Facebook post about his efforts to increase car parks at a train station in his electorate.
"Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus," he wrote from his MP Facebook account on his own post.
A polarising figure in the Liberal Party, Taylor has been embroiled in a series of scandals since coming to power.
In late 2016, a company part-owned by Taylor and his brother through a family trust poisoned 30 hectares of critically endangered grasslands on the Monaro plains in NSW.
It was alleged by Labor that Taylor had lobbied to have protections for those grasslands watered down, while the company was being investigated over the poisoning incident.
While admitting he met with environment department officials, Taylor denied that "any compliance matter, or any personal interest of mine" was discussed.
In 2019, Taylor falsely accused Sydney's lord mayor, Clover Moore, of being a hypocrite on climate change by spending $15 million on travel.
He backed up this claim with incorrect City of Sydney council records, which later turned out to be falsified.
Taylor's challenge against Ley came after weeks of intense speculation, but the undermining of her began soon after she became leader.
The party's conservative wing has been agitating in the background for months, with Hastie quitting the front bench over immigration policy and senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price losing her shadow portfolio after refusing to publicly endorse Ley as leader. |
