If Angus Taylor can’t thread this political needle, his fate might be all sewn up

May 15, 2026 — 3:00am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

Angus Taylor’s budget reply speech was the opposition leader’s best, and last, chance to make an enduring impression on Australian voters who aren’t paying much attention to politics, most of the time.

From this moment forward, Taylor has to present as an attack dog who can take the fight to Labor, reassure Australians he is a competent alternative leader and present compelling alternative ideas.

Why? Because after just three months in the job, Taylor’s Coalition was thumped in Farrer last weekend by One Nation and lost a seat it had easily retained just a year ago (and since its inception in 1949). In Pauline Hanson, Taylor faces an alternative opposition leader who is eating his lunch and stealing his voters, and whose grievance politics suit the times perfectly. But more on Hanson’s surge, and what underpins it, in a moment.

Liberal leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie is also sitting quietly on the sidelines. Taylor and Hastie share a birthday (September 30), but Hastie is 43 and has time on his side, whereas Taylor, at 59, does not. This could be his one shot as leader, which is what makes the weeks ahead so consequential.

Helpfully for Taylor, Labor has presented one of the most ambitious federal budgets in decades, replete with broken promises – paring back negative gearing and capital gains tax breaks – and cracking down on the use of trusts to avoid tax. For a John Howard-style Liberal like Taylor, the tax changes are red meat. Already he has promised to oppose these tax changes and repeal them if the Coalition returns to government.........

© WA Today