In 2015, soon after he had rolled Tony Abbott to become prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull was heckled when, with a straight face, he told New South Wales Liberals, “We are not run by factions”.

Once, there had been a contrast, at least in degree, between the factionally-organised Labor party and the Liberals. But those days are long gone.

Today the difference is that factions in the federal Labor Party are externally well behaved – albeit sometimes internally brutal as Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus can attest – while the Liberal factions are currently creating havoc for their party.

On Monday, Turnbull gave the ABC his latest take on the Liberals’ internals. Ley, he said, was in a fish tank whose occupants “want to eat each other. They have the memory of goldfish and the dining habits of piranhas”.

The conservatives have taken over the party. After being trounced on net zero, moderates are angry with Sussan Ley for mishandling the issue: if she had brought things to a head months or even weeks ago she might have achieved a compromise. On the other hand, if the moderates undermine her they just aid conservatives Angus Taylor or Andrew Hastie to become leader, probably bringing all sorts of other policies they don’t like.

Against this background, Monday’s Australian carried a front page lead claiming: “A growing number of moderate Liberal MPs are pulling their support for Sussan Ley and are backing Andrew Hastie to be the next leader, arguing she has caved to his agenda and he has a better chance of lifting the Coalition’s stocks electorally”.

The story went on to say two senior moderates had said a majority of moderate MPs would vote for Hastie against Ley.

It looked like some in the moderates were having a hissy fit, or declaring they were generally stuffed, or perhaps engaging in some unfathomable plot to stymie Hastie.

As a punchdrunk Ley hit yet another morning media round, other moderates then sought to get the faction back on a more even keel.

Senator Anne Ruston, as close to a leader as the faction has, and Senator Maria Kovacic in a joint statement rejected the media reporting.

“We, along with an overwhelming majority of our moderate colleagues, continue to strongly support Sussan’s leadership. This matter was resolved in the party room six months ago and Sussan will lead us strongly to the next election,” they said.

Ruston then went on Sky News to further defend Ley, days after trenchantly fighting to head off the ditching of net zero.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of my colleagues this morning, and I can confirm that every single one of the moderates I spoke to supports Sussan Ley as the leader of our party,” Ruston said.

Ley’s tactic when on the defensive is to go out and do more and more media, even if it looks like a losing battle.

On the ABC she was asked about her message to future generations, now net zero has been abandoned by the Coalition. “I want to reassure people listening who care about the climate, that I do too.”

On 2GB during her interview, presenter Ben Fordham played talkback calls from September, when people had been asked whether they would prefer Ley or Hastie as leader. Those played all said Hastie.

Fordham then asked Ley, “what’s that like to listen to?” When she fobbed him off, he persisted, “Does that hurt though?”

He went on, rather bizarrely: “Don’t get me wrong, we all have it in our jobs. I have the same thing here, not everyone wants me hosting the breakfast show, but they’re stuck with me, and the Liberal voters are stuck with you.”

Ley said she wasn’t “here for a sense of ego about me”.

Fordham, after inviting her back, presumably to be pummelled again, threw her a final question.

“You’re tough enough to withstand any pressures coming from the likes of Andrew Hastie or Jacinta Price or anyone else who’d like to see you as a former opposition leader, not the current one?”

To which she replied: “Ben, I’ve been underestimated a lot of my life. I remember when a lot of blokes told me I couldn’t fly an aeroplane and did a lot to keep me out of the front seat. I flew an aeroplane, I flew a mustering plane in very small circles, very close to the ground, and that was pretty tough at the time.”

Ley is once again flying very close to the ground. She knows she may not be able to keep herself aloft, but she appears determined to make Taylor and Hastie’s chase for the leadership as difficult as she can.