Liberal leadership battle LIVE: Jacinta Price answers the question on the mind of every Aussie – as she sensationally DEFECTS to the Liberals

Jacinta Price has taken the first step on her quest to become Prime Minister, shifting from the Nationals to the Liberal Party room in the wake of Saturday’s crushing defeat.

What has to happen from here for Price to achieve her ambition?

1. She’ll need to shift to the lower house. To be PM that’s a must do. But she doesn’t need to do it this term. She can aim to move to one of the marginal Northern Territory lower house seats at the next election, but that likely means she can’t be leader before then. John Gorton shifted from the Senate to the House shortly after being elected Liberal leader and PM, but it’s highly unusual to do it in that order.
2. Price will need to find a way to appeal across the Liberal Party. Right now she’s a pin up girl for the conservatives, but needs to also convince moderates that she’s a force to be reckoned with. Especially after the party’s disaster in city seats at this election as well as in 2022.

1. Beyond the above Price must show that she’s not a one trick pony. She was a star for the No camp during the voice campaign but to appeal as a major party leader needs to be broader than that.
2. Finally, Price needs to begin networking amongst Liberal MPs. They decide the party leader and in Liberal Party terms she is a newbie. They need to believe that she can satisfy their ambitions by pursuing hers. They want to win government and if they think she can do that she’ll be well placed to make her bold play a success.

Nationals Senator Canavan has accused Jacinta Price of ‘changing teams on the football field’ after she dumped the Nationals to sit in the Liberal Party room.

As a member of the Country Liberal Party, she can choose where she sits in Canberra between the Liberal Party and the Nationals, opting for the latter in the past.

‘I don’t know how you can go to the people one week and say, “I’m going to represent this party in the nation’s parliament”, and then the very next week, turn around: “So actually, I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to go to a different side”,’ Canavan told Sky News.

‘It’s like changing teams on the football field. And it’s the sort of kind of thing that Lidia Thorpe did.

‘How is what Jacinta is doing any different From what Lidia did? She’s doing this for her.’

Lidia Thorpe infamously left the Greens to sit as an independent in 2023 over the party’s support for the Voice referendum, which she opposed.

Senator Price was confronted about Canavan’s comments on 2GB.

‘Matt’s forgetting that I am a country Liberal Party senator for the Northern Territory, and… we live in a democracy, and Matt is absolutely one for championing democracy,’ she told Ben Fordham.

‘The decision I have chosen, which is something I can do as part of the country Liberal Party, is which party room I sit in in federal parliament, to be quite honest, it is something that I wanted to do from the first time I was elected.’

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was asked directly on Friday morning if she harboured ambitions to one day lead the Liberal Party – and eventually become PM.

The current Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians certainly didn’t deny it, telling 2GB’s Ben Fordham that it was a ‘massive ask’.

‘I certainly need to be able to learn the ropes and understand how to be able to support the Australian people to the best of my capacity,’ she said.

Senator Price insisted her sole focus was about how the party can ‘espouse Australian values’.

‘How do we get our country into a position that is a hell of a lot better than it currently is?’, she asked.

‘And what is it the Australian people need and are all asking for?

‘Those are a lot of considerations. You don’t take any decision lightly at all, and for me, ultimately, it will always go back to the fact that under circumstances for our most marginalised, their lives need to improve, they’re not going to improve under Labor’s watch – they never have.’

Dan Tehan has officially ruled himself out of the Liberal party leadership race.

The re-elected Wannon MP said he is prepared to ‘work hard and serve in whatever capacity I am asked to rebuild our party’.

The contest is now between Sussan Ley and Angus Taylor.

New faces will be welcomed to the fold as Labor politicians come together for the first time since their emphatic victory at the federal election.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will address the caucus meeting in Canberra on Friday after his party’s landslide win.

The scale of the success has taken even senior Labor ministers by surprise, lending to a buoyant feeling among the party’s members.

A record number of women will be taking their seats in parliament, with women to outnumber men in the Labor partyroom.

At least 46 seats will be held by women in the Labor government out of a total of 150 in the House of Representatives.

More than a dozen new MPs will join the ranks after Labor increased its seats from 77 to at least 90 as the count continues.

Australian National University political historian Frank Bongiorno said Labor hadn’t had a victory this size since 1943.

‘It’s a remarkable opportunity for the government to craft a legacy, which could extend even beyond this term,’ he said.

‘Governments don’t normally extend their majorities … you normally win your first election reasonably comfortably, and then you begin burning political capital straight away in that first term, and then often have to scrape a win the second time round.’

New Dickson MP Ali France has been hailed a ‘Labor legend’ after she became the first person to unseat an opposition leader at an election with her defeat of Peter Dutton.

Former Tasmanian state opposition leader Rebecca White’s victory in Lyons has her among the contenders to be elevated to the ministry, expected to be unveiled on Monday ahead of a swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday.

Former PM Paul Keating has unleashed on Anthony Albanese for dumping two senior ministers in his forthcoming cabinet reshuffle.

Sussan Ley has announced she will run for the Liberal Party leadership, and candidly admitted that it had failed women during the election campaign.

If susccessful, she would become the first woman to lead the Liberal Party.