1 week ago
1
February 17, 2026 — 3:00pm
Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume and Goldstein MP Tim Wilson will lead the opposition’s effort to regain the party’s mantle as better managers of the economy in Angus Taylor’s new-look frontbench.
Taylor is expected to reveal his new team in Sydney on Tuesday afternoon, four days after toppling Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, and has started calling MPs who will be promoted or dumped.
According to three MPs familiar with Taylor’s announcement, Wilson will become the new shadow treasurer. Hume, who is entitled to pick her portfolio as deputy leader, will take on a job focused on productivity and growth. Both are classic free-market moderates from inner-city Melbourne.
Hume will not hold the finance portfolio that she held alongside Taylor as shadow treasurer last term, when the Peter Dutton-led opposition was panned for its economic offering and the Coalition suffered an embarrassing defeat.
In another key move, Senator James Paterson is preparing to shift from finance to defence, the portfolio held by Taylor before he became leader. Paterson was an important player in rallying support for Taylor to take over.
Ted O’Brien is expected to keep a place in the shadow cabinet despite being deputy leader under Ley. Moderate senator Andrew Bragg, another Ley backer, is also set to keep his shadow cabinet job.
Taylor was still making calls to winners and losers about lunchtime on Tuesday before a mid-afternoon announcement.
A group of ardent Ley backers will likely struggle to retain their places in the shadow cabinet, including Andrew Wallace, Alex Hawke, Scott Buchholz, Melissa Price, Jason Wood, and Paul Scarr.
