Australian news and politics live: Sussan Ley most unpopular major leader since 2003, shock poll latest pain

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog has landed in Sydney after officially being invited by the Albanese Government.

The President and Israel’s First Lady Michal Herzog touched down just after 8am on Monday.

The President’s visit was planned in response to the anti-Semitic terror attack at Bondi Beach that resulted in the death of 15 innocent people.

The two were greeted by Israel’s Ambassador to Australia, Amir Maimon and his wife, Tal, before being escorted to a hotel, surrounded by an intense security convoy.

Australian public servants will be expected to take part in dedicated training modules about understanding and tackling anti-Semitism.

Officials from the Attorney General’s department told senators before a parliamentary committee on Monday that they hoped to roll out the new training in March.

The Department’s chief people and strategy officer, Bridie Dawson, said it would join a suite of measures.

“The department will also work closely with the APS Commission. They are looking at some specific anti-Semitism modules,” she said.

“I’ve been advised they’re hoping to roll them out in March, so that will be further resources that will be available to the department through their APS Learn platform.

“We have a number of report and support mechanisms.

“We also have a CALD action plan. We also have a cultural e-Learning course, which covers cross-cultural communication and cultural diversity. As of the end of December, we also have indigenous cultural awareness training to complement that.

“The department already has a robust anti-racism training module that staff can access.”

Senator Duniam ducked questions about whether he believed Sussan Ley would still be the Liberal leader in a months’ time.

The close ally of Andrew Hastie – who withdrew from contention amid heightened leadership posturing – had a blunt message for would-be leader Angus Taylor.

“Angus as part of Sussan’s leadership team, as one of our shadow ministers, he needs to – along with me and others – do what we haven’t been doing over the last few weeks, get out and do our job, understand the problems this country is facing, come up with solutions and tell people how they’ll be better off under our agenda,” he told ABC radio.

“I’m not going to look at the polls and pretend they’re not an issue… Always, without fail, every point in the electoral cycle where a party is in the doldrums when it comes to the polls, there is always going to be this level of (leadership) speculation. Again, we can’t be distracted by that.”

Shadow home affairs minister Jonno Duniam conceded that he and his colleagues had been distracted by internal leadership posturing and the split with the Nationals and said that “we deserve the result we get” in the polls.

“Frankly, the last few weeks have been nothing short of an indictment, and we need to focus on our job, get on with it and make that our 100 per cent aim over the next period of time, to actually win back the trust of voters across this country,” he told ABC radio.

He said that as part of the senior leadership team, he shared responsibility and everyone in the top positions needed to “own and rectify” the state of things.

Liberal Senator Jane Hume has delivered an excoriating message to her leadership, using a regular spot on Sky News to describe the dire Newspoll numbers published this morning as “disastrous”.

“Unless something changes, we will be wiped out… I don’t think that at this point there will be a single member of the House of Representatives from Victoria. There won’t be a single member of the House of Representatives from New South Wales. Something has to give,” she said of the 18 per cent primary.

“My message to my leaders is that if you have a rabbit in your hat, it’s time to reach for that bunny, because we cannot continue this way.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley left Senator Hume off the shadow frontbench after the election despite her being an experienced senior politician.

Senator Hume insisted she wasn’t calling for Ms Ley to be dumped but urged her party to release more policies and make it clear to voters what it stood for.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says Australians currently have a poorer view of the Coalition because they were talking about themselves too much.

“They looked at the disunity and the back-and-forwards, and they marked us down (in the polls) because they saw us talking about ourselves,” Ms Ley told Sunrise on Monday.

“Yesterday, we drew a line under that. We said we’ve resolved our differences, we’ve strengthened our processes, they’re even better going forward, and we are squarely focused on the Australian people.

Ms Ley said “right-here, right-now”, the Coalition was focused on Australians and that the parties have the answers to fix Australia’s issues, including a migration policy, which the Opposition Leader says is coming soon.

Word around Canberra was that if the latest party polling for the Coalition fell below 20, the “trigger” would be pulled, ousting Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

The latest poll put the Coalition’s primary vote at 18 per cent, with Ms Ley becoming the most unpopular major party leader since 2003.

Asked on Monday if she would last the week, Ms Ley said: “Yes, indeed”.

“Millions of Australians are frustrated, they’re angry, they’re doing it tough. We see that expressed through the polls. When they don’t see a clear, united message coming out of Canberra, they mark us down,” Ms Ley told Sunrise.

“I understand that. The Coalition is back together, and we are focused on the future.”

Asked if Angus Taylor would launch a challenge, Ms Ley said, “I’m not concerned”.

“I’m always looking outside this building to the Australian people who are counting on us.”