Net-zero critic Andrew Hastie has dismissed speculation Sussan Ley’s leadership will soon be challenged as the Liberals prepare to battle over the policy that has spurred damaging infighting.

An internal rift over emissions targets and a series of dire polls have supercharged speculation Ley’s days in the top job are numbered, with Liberal senator Sarah Henderson on Friday stopping short of endorsing her.

“I do have to say really honestly, I do think Sussan is losing support, but I do believe in miracles,” Henderson said.

“We can turn things around, but things are not good.”

Hastie, who is seen as a potential leadership contender, watered down speculation he was coming for Ley’s job after he was seen out for dinner with a group of conservatives in Canberra earlier in the week.

“There was nothing to it, it was just good friends catching up,” the West Australian MP told Sydney radio station 2GB.

“I can’t pretend things are good. We had a dire Newspoll result with a primary vote of just 24 per cent. Things are not travelling well.”

But the outspoken opponent of his party’s previous support for achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 said the coalition could still turn things around by settling on an energy policy that lowered power prices.

“The thing we have to do is come to a position on net zero and that’s my singular focus,” Hastie said.

“Until we sort that out, it doesn’t matter who leads the party.”

After weeks of internal brawling, Liberal members are shortly due to decide a position on retaining or dumping the climate goal, adopted under the party’s then-prime minister Scott Morrison in 2021.

A partyroom meeting will be held on Wednesday and shadow cabinet will meet to formalise their position the following day.

But even if the Liberals land a cohesive plan amid fierce internal divisions, they will still need to strike an agreement with junior coalition partner the Nationals, who have already elected to drop the formal net-zero target.

Henderson, who was dumped from shadow cabinet after Ley took over the Liberal leadership, commended the opposition leader for calling a series of meetings as a “significant step forward” in deciding a policy position on energy and climate.

“I vehemently oppose net zero in all of its guises – it’s sending our country backwards,” the senator said.

Asked whether the party could turn itself around with Ley at the helm, Henderson took a long pause before reiterating she could not support the “way things are”.

“I’m not in the business of throwing anyone under the bus, I’m stating the bleeding obvious, we are in a dire situation,” she said.

“The infighting has been terrible and I’m terribly sorry about what’s been going on in the Liberal Party.”

Moderate Liberal senator Jane Hume said she still supported Ley and praised her for being “really consistent in her messaging since she was elected”.

“It’s important we get this policy right because Australians have seen their energy prices rise about 40 per cent under Labor,” she said.

Former Liberal leader John Hewson earlier delivered a withering assessment of Ley and the party she leads in the midst of the fractious policy debate.

“She hasn’t shown any clear strategy, or any strong capacity in terms of leadership,” he told AAP.

Hewson, who let his membership lapse in 2019 because of concerns about the party’s record on climate change, said the opposition was devoid of serious policies because its members had little experience outside politics.

“They haven’t got people with significant business experience … I don’t think that they’ve got people who are policy wonks in economic policy,” he said.

“You can’t just keep being negative and hoping to win on criticism, as (Tony) Abbott did.”

Hewson was also highly critical of Hastie.

“He’s been sold a bit of a dump by the right of the party,” the former Liberal leader said, arguing Hastie’s criticism of Australia’s immigration program was unlikely to be popular in the broader electorate.

–AAP