After 81 years, the Liberal party will be led by a woman, with Sussan Ley winning the leadership contest over Angus Taylor this morning.
Her elevation comes just in time for the most significant post-election cleanup in the party’s history. The Liberal party was further decimated at the May 3 Federal election polls following its previous decimation in 2022.
Ley’s historic appointment also comes as the Liberal party has struggled to elevate women into top jobs for years.
In 2018, the party failed to elect Julie Bishop as its next leader. Bishop garnered just 11 votes out of a possible 85 against Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison, despite extensive polling of Australians at the time indicating she was the preferred leader.
Ley fared much better than Bishop this morning, winning 29 votes, even with barely half the party room they once had.
However, Ley still only won the race by four votes. Angus Taylor achieved 25.
It’s hard to call this anything but a “glass cliff” situation for Ley. But to be fair to the blokes who dominate the party, Angus Taylor put in a good effort in his hopes to take the job himself.
Indeed, it’s hard to miss Taylor’s drive to deliver a nuclear policy he couldn’t explain in the past couple of years, along with cuts to the public sector that Australians didn’t want.
Unlike former Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who at least acknowledged his personal role in the party’s election defeat, Taylor has not accepted any responsibility for his part in the result, despite being the second most vocal and prominent Liberal on the party’s campaign.
Still, Taylor’s dismal campaigning work wasn’t enough for 19 of his colleagues to vote for a woman instead.
Sussan Ley declared she wants to do things “differently,” in a press conference following her leadership win. She said her personal story is a migrant story, as well as one about small business, rural Australia, and family.
“We have to have a Liberal Party that respects modern Australia, that reflects modern Australia, and that represents modern Australia,” she said.
“And we have to meet the people where they are. And that’s what I am committed to doing and what I am determined to do.
She said the party faced a “significant defeat” on May 3 of a scale that is not lost on any of them. “Right now, we have to respect the result and reflect with humility.”
Today marks a historic moment for the Liberal party as Sussan Ley becomes Opposition leader.
And Ley told reporters that she will still be in the position in their years’ time, offering a “competitive policy offering”.
But with a huge cleanup ahead, including the search for what the Liberal party will stand for now, Ley’s tenure is precarious. This is especially true with three of those who are believed to have voted for Ley, including Senator Linda Reynolds, leaving parliament when their Senate term expires midway through the year. In the meantime, Ley has declared, “I am humbled. I am honoured. And I am up for the job.