LIBERAL senators have elected conservative Tasmanian Eric Abetz and moderate Queenslander George Brandis as their leader and deputy leader in the upper house, rebuffing a push for the party's right wing to retain both positions.
Senator Abetz, who had been deputy, was elected unopposed to replace retiring Senate leader Nick Minchin, who was also from the right wing, at a meeting of Liberal senators in Canberra yesterday, The Australian Financial Review reports.
Senator Brandis secured the deputy's position with 18 votes, beating West Australian conservative Mathias Cormann with eight votes, and former Howard government minister Ian Macdonald, on five votes.
Senator Abetz said he and Senator Brandis would work well together, despite their different views.
"Whilst we might have particular dispositions philosophically, at the end of the day it is the best team that the senators wanted to put forward, and looking at the best team that goes across any of those so-called philosophical divides that might exist," he said.
Email a friend