Canberra Liberals leader Leanne Castley has suspended disaffected backbenchers Elizabeth Lee and Peter Cain from the party room and says she will be seeking to remove them permanently.

This follows former opposition leader Lee and her backbench colleague Peter Cain voting against the Canberra Liberals to back a push for an extra sitting week next year.

“As this is an internal party room matter, I will be making no further comment,” Castley said in a terse media statement.

It’s been almost a year since Castley took control of the Canberra Liberals from Lee, who had failed to make any ground for the party at October’s territory election last year.

Lee refused offers of shadow portfolios and took herself to the Liberal backbench to be joined by former shadow cabinet member Peter Cain in June.

In an opinion piece for CityNews last week, Leanne Castley said the party was “drawing a line in the sand”.

“After seven election losses and with ACT Labor now in power for 24 years, the Canberra Liberals must now, more than ever remind themselves of who the real audience is they must talk to: ACT voters,” she wrote.

“Obviously, we did not see the results we wanted in 2024. The recent 2024 Election Review has provided a clear analysis of what worked and what didn’t and what we need to improve on.

“That includes better teamwork and working together, giving Canberrans more time to consider our policy solutions, supporting candidates and improving how we tell Canberrans what our values are and what we stand for.”

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