Do we like Angus Taylor?
Our score: 2 out of 10. His own votes and pledges cut against LGBTQ+ protections and climate action, and we found little verified good to set against that.
Taylor grew up in southern NSW, studied law and economics at Sydney Uni, then won a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford. He joined McKinsey in 1994, made partner in 1999, and later started irrigation and agriculture businesses with his family. He won the seat of Hume in Tony Abbott's 2013 win and has been a senior Liberal ever since, finally taking the leadership 34 votes to 17 in February 2026.
His 2019 was a stoush. He copped criticism over an $80 million water purchase involving a company he co-founded and had directed, and he apologised to Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore after a document circulated by his office claimed her council spent over $15 million on travel; the real figure was under $6,000. The Australian Federal Police dropped its investigation in 2020, saying there was “no evidence to indicate” he was involved in falsifying information, though he has never explained how he came to distribute it.
On the harm test, the big one is trans rights. In May 2026 he pledged that a Coalition government would define sex in the Sex Discrimination Act as “the sex you are born”, saying “We are not removing a single protection from anyone.” LGBTIQ+ Health Australia and the Trans Justice Project say it would strip legal protections and called it “damaging and cynical politics”. His voting record backs the concern: They Vote For You has him consistently voting against increasing legal protections for LGBTI people and against transgender rights and protections, and for a same-sex marriage plebiscite.
The newest mess is the NSW ICAC's Operation Rosny. A hearing was told a former Liberal staffer said Taylor supported the Reformers, a right-wing group accused of branch stacking, and was shown a 2021 text allegedly saying he had committed a $15,000 injection plus a $3,000 monthly donation. Taylor denied five times that he had made any payment, said “No payment was made”, and says the commission has not approached him.
In July he went after One Nation, calling it “a column of smoke” and ruling out an alliance. Pauline Hanson replied that she was not his enemy and accused him of copying One Nation's policies on immigration and net zero. Credit where due for taking on a party that has surged in the polls, but it was an economic argument, not a stand on the people One Nation targets.
So the answer is no. Nothing here is decided against him in court, and the ICAC allegations are denied. But a leader pledging to narrow trans people's legal protections, with a voting record against LGBTI protections and climate action, isn't someone this page would back.