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ACT Liberal Leader Leanne Castley and Deputy Jeremy Hanson Resign, Triggering Leadership Vote

Both say stepping aside gives the party a fresh start ahead of the 2028 election.

Overview

  • A party-room vote will choose a new leadership team, and neither Castley nor Hanson will contest any position.
  • The resignations follow weeks of internal conflict that led to Elizabeth Lee and Peter Cain being suspended from the party room.
  • Lee and Cain crossed the floor to vote with the Greens and two independents in a failed bid to keep 13 sitting weeks in 2026.
  • Strains grew after September rules limited key policy and strategy discussions to frontbenchers, which Lee and Cain said excluded them.
  • Castley has declined to discuss internal disciplinary decisions publicly as the ACT Liberals continue a long stretch out of government since 2001.