Australia’s struggling ​opposition Liberal Party installed former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a pugnacious social conservative and campaigner against climate action, as its president ‌on Friday, reinforcing its swing to the right as it works to regain power. The centre-right Liberals dominated modern Australian politics but have been in turmoil after heavy election losses in 2022 and 2025 when they lost swathes of their traditional urban heartland to centrist independents and Labor. Opinion polls now show them falling behind a rising populist right, led by the One ​Nation party. Party leader Angus Taylor replaced a more centrist leader in February and immediately promised to slash immigration, cut taxes, unleash the mining and ​gas industries, and slow emissions reduction, all policies that Abbott supports. Addressing a party conference in Melbourne after being confirmed unopposed ⁠as president, Abbott said the Liberals were in “existential crisis” and Australia was in “a kind of spiritual malaise”.

Full report : Australia’s embattled Liberals tap former PM Abbott as party president, reinforcing rightward shift.