Barbeques Galore and Liberal leadership spill inspire Knight toon

Our system of government is based on the United Kingdom’s Westminster system. That is where you have a legislature* made up of members, who are politicians voted in by the public. There are multiple political parties, and the one that wins the most seats forms government. The party with the second highest number of seats becomes His Majesty’s Opposition.

The role of the Opposition is crucial to our system of government. The Opposition questions the government’s policies and holds it to account. It is there as a viable* alternative to the government of the day. Without a strong and challenging opposition, governments have no check and balance process.

It’s been a tumultuous* time for the conservative side of politics in Australia these last few years. After Liberal leader and then Prime Minister Scott Morrison lost the 2022 election to Anthony Albanese, we saw Peter Dutton step up to lead a party which was now in Opposition. He was summarily dismissed* by Australian voters at the 2025 Federal election, which then saw Sussan Ley become the first woman to lead the party.

Unfortunately for Ms Ley, she has not captured the public’s imagination as Opposition Leader and the Liberal Party has been shedding voters en masse*. The One Nation Party and Pauline Hansen have been the beneficiary* in the opinion polls. Also, the Liberals are in coalition* with the National Party, but that relationship has fallen apart twice in the last twelve months.

It has all come to a head this week, with the Liberal vote falling to 18 per cent, which was an all-time low. In political terms, the knives were out for the Liberal leader and numbers were starting to be counted to vote for a new leader. Liberal frontbench shadow minister for defence Angus Taylor was the hot favourite to succeed Sussan Ley.

Angus Taylor was elected the 17th leader of the Liberal Party on Friday in the Liberal Party Room in Parliament House, Canberra. The party room overwhelmingly backed Mr Taylor to take over from Sussan Ley, 34 votes to 17.

Jane Hume beat out Ted O’Brien, Dan Tehan and Melissa Price to win the deputy leader position.

Following her defeat, Ms Ley announced she would quit politics in the coming weeks forcing a by-election* in her seat Farrer.

It was my job to try and capture this leadership turmoil in a cartoon for the day’s paper. I asked myself if Sussan Ley had been given enough time to establish herself as the new leader? Had she been given enough of a go to develop policies that the public might embrace? Was the party just tossing away another leader and taking a chance on someone else?

It is a strange business, this political cartooning, and I’m not sure exactly where my ideas come from, but I was considering the Liberal leadership vote when I saw in my news feed that the retail chain Barbeques Galore was in financial difficulty. Then my cartoonist’s mind for some reason recalled that great moment in Australian barbecuing, when Aussie legend Paul Hogan “threw another shrimp on the barbie”.

The cogs in my brain started to turn and that famous line cross-referenced* with the Liberals throwing away another leader and before you knew it, Sussan Ley was a prawn about to be tossed onto the hotplate by Angus Taylor. Bizarre!

I haven’t drawn Mr Taylor much, but it looks like I might end up doing so in the future. At the moment his caricature is drawn fairly straight, but as he develops politically, so will his caricature. Let’s hope he can bring the Liberals back to form a strong and viable opposition.

Barbecues are part of the Australian way of life, particularly in summer, and I wondered in my cartoon why a retailer like Barbeques Galore, that specialises in selling barbies, might be struggling? Especially these days, what with the Liberals’ penchant* for “throwing another leader on the barbie”!

POLL

GLOSSARY

• legislature: the legislative body of a state or country
• viable: good enough to do the job well
• tumultuous: chaotic, lacking order and organisation
• summarily dismissed: when someone gets fired instantly because they have acted poorly, in this case, the term is a tongue in cheek reference to Peter Dutton’s massive loss at the election
• en masse: in large numbers
• beneficiary: the person who benefits, in this case, the politician who received voter preferences after voters turned away from the Liberal Party
• coalition: an alliance between two political parties
• by-election: an election held in a single area to fill the seat of power because of a vacancy occurring during the government’s turn in office
• cross-referenced: when references to two different things are linked together in some way
• penchant: a strong habitual liking for something or a tendency to do something a certain way

EXTRA READING
Blue Lib leader’s St Kilda lament
Country romance over for Coalition
Why the federal Coalition split up

QUICK QUIZ
1. What is the Westminster system?
2. Why is it important to have a strong and viable opposition party?
3. Who has become the new leader of the Liberal Party?
4. Which other political party are the Liberals in coalition with?
5. Which barbecue chain is struggling at the moment?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What’s an Opposition for?
What is the job, or role, of the Opposition in our federal parliament? Brainstorm as many ideas as you can.

Time: allow at least 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Civics and Citizenship

2. Extension
Think about leadership. What advice would you give Angus Taylor that will help him to be a fair, effective and successful Leader of the Opposition? Write a letter or text for an email to Angus. Your purpose is to give him a detailed explanation that will help him to be a good leader in his role in our parliament.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Civics and Citizenship, Personal and Social Capability

VCOP ACTIVITY
Describe it
Look at the cartoon and make a list of five nouns that you see. Then describe those five nouns with five adjectives.

Finally, choose your favourite bundle and put all the words together to make one descriptive sentence.