From the National Press Club: It’s difficult not to like Sussan Ley. I discovered she was in front of me as we entered the Press Club and I felt her presence before I noticed who she was. I remember attending a Parliamentary Friends of Nuclear Energy event at Parliament House when the air was sucked out of the room and I turned around to see Peter Dutton. Ms Ley has similar impact, and she certainly lit up the room. She clearly has the ticker to be the leader of a federal parliamentary party. She spoke about her personal journey as a woman in Australian politics, and it’s hard not to want her to do well. But the Australians Ms Ley ‘respects, reflects, and represents’ (as she says) are not my people.

The address began with an acknowledgement of country, and it all went downhill from there. For the next hour or so, I heard about how tough it was to be a woman in Australia. I couldn’t help thinking that whenever Australian women in the upper echelons of our society discuss the inequity of a male-dominated society, they are talking about elite men in Australian society. I’m certain if you asked almost any man or woman who has had to fight their way out of the working-class that it sucks regardless.

It is interesting that the two female politicians who have spoken so much about men, Ley and her predecessor Julia Gillard, were originally Brits. If Australia is so bad, the UK must be the third circle of hell. I’ve never heard Jacinta Nampijinpa Price talk about men in this way.

As an academic, I’ve had a ton of training in recognising my ‘unconscious’ biases. As far as any working-class kid who got lucky, the chips on my shoulders are stacked high. So I asked a retired academic colleague and mentor (we often chat during the Press Club events and she is not a conservative) what she thought about Ms Ley’s speech.

My female friend responded:

The blokes don’t look comfortable with this rubbish… This is a huge mistake – can’t think who advised her to do this – ah now we get to her agenda… Prue Goward? Heaven help us! The Libs are in turmoil and maybe this is the death knell!

More women? The women who have been in Parliament have been so disappointing and ineffectual – this ra ra rant won’t help…

It’s getting worse – talk about digging a hole – yes – where’s the fire evacuation bell?

It’s worse than a hole – like a drain sucker – taking out the vestiges of the Libs of old and replacing with a melange of muck… It’s a huge downward slope for the Libs!

Our next job is remoulding the living room windows…

I kid you not, my friend’s husband was unable to watch the eSafety Commissioner’s gig the day before because he had to ‘go and paint a fence’. That’s how I felt about today’s address until we got to the questions.

Ms Ley was quick-witted when responding to questions about factions within the Liberal Party, but a quick glance around the room that was dominated by Liberal moderates and supported by the few mentions of her moderate parliamentary colleagues meant the response was unconvincing.

An important point resulting from Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ address last week is that Deputy Liberal Leader and Shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien will be at the productivity (according to Albo) and taxation reform (according to Jimbo) roundtable. Or so Ms Ley insists.

In response to a question about raising the GST, Ms Ley responded emphatically that her natural response to increasing taxes was, ‘No…’

In most cases, her responses to journo’s questions (it was a full house, and I was way down the list) were clever, articulate, and generally sound. Except when it came to the social media ban.

This is where the Uniparty concept became obvious.

Australian politicians have ruined our economy, ruined public trust in our political and cultural institutions, ruined our social cohesion by pandering to fringe groups, and generally proven Donald Horne’s ‘lucky country’ and Marion Mahony Griffin’s ‘mediocrity’ theses. On what planet do they think they have the ability to protect our children?

Liberal moderates and the polling punters keep talking about how conservatism is dead, and the last election proved it. Ms Ley made a point of saying that the Coalition didn’t lose the last election, they were ‘smashed’.

My unanswered question to Ms Ley was:

‘Ms Ley, our economy, society, and foreign affairs are in disarray. This should be a conservative opposition’s dream scenario. Why aren’t we hearing anything from the opposition?’

Alas, the answer is that Ms Ley’s opposition is not conservative. In my opinion, they are simply the right of the Labor Party. Bob Hawke would have been comfortable leading this opposition.

Malcolm Fraser, before he went pre-Woke, overthrew a government that was more competent than our current political nightmare.

While Ms Ley may be likeable and competent, and undoubtedly an effective leader, she ‘respects, reflects, and represents’ everyone except those of us who once upon a time would have sweated blood for Menzies’ Liberal Party.

Dr Michael de Percy @FlaneurPolitiq is the Spectator Australia’s Canberra Press Gallery Correspondent. If you would like to support his writing, or read more of Michael, please visit his website