Sussan Ley tells of her final moments with her mother and her plans for the Liberal Party’s rebuild
Liberal leader Sussan Ley has opened up on what drives her, as she paid tribute to her “trailblazer” mother.
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Exclusive: Days before passing away at the age of 93, Sussan Ley’s mother sat propped up in an Albury hospital bed, watching her daughter address Australia as the new leader of the Liberal Party.
Angela Braybrooks, 93, had her grandson Paul beside her, alongside her family’s priest – who told her: “Wait for Sussan to get home, because you’re a part of this achievement.”
Angela’s daughter had become the first woman to ever lead the Liberals, in the party’s 81 year history.
A few days earlier Ms Braybrooks had been moved into palliative care, and as soon as Ms Ley’s television address finished, the new federal Opposition Leader rushed to her mother’s bedside.
“When I got home, her eyes sort of lit up when she saw me,” Sussan Ley, 63, told The Sunday Telegraph.
Ms Braybrooks passed away on Saturday.
In her final days, Ms Ley said she was “at peace” with her mum’s condition, though knew it would be “incredibly wrenching” when she died.
“I held her hand, I talked to her about life and things we’ve been through together, and I hope she hears,” Ms Ley said.
“It’s a good opportunity to reflect on all things that she did in her life, because my mum was a bit of a trailblazer.”
Born in Nigeria as a British citizen, Ms Ley spent her early years in the Middle East where her father worked in military intelligence.
While “most of the wives” hosted cocktail parties and high teas, Ms Ley’s mum worked – running a kindergarten, creating a library in their house and then training as a nurse when the family emigrated to Australia.
“I always had this model growing up of a mum that was busy and that worked,” she said.
“For me, that was important when I found myself so busy with my girls and my boy, and always felt guilty, you know as mums tend to, because I’m not there enough and I can’t get it right, can’t balance it all.”
It’s an example she hopes she sets for her daughters Issy and Georgina now.
“You can strive for things, you can do whatever you want, and strength and independence are qualities all women should seek,” Ms Ley said.
A devotee of the punk movement as a teen, Ms Ley said could “never have imagined” herself with a political career.
After studying to become a pilot, Ms Ley was flying a crop duster in western Queensland when she met and married a shearer, moving to his family farm in Albury, NSW.
“Life on the land in a family farming business, it was really tough,” she said.
“I’ve genuinely looked at my kitchen windowsill where the bills are sitting and thought, ‘I’m not opening any of them’ during tough times on the land.”
At 30, Ms Ley felt she didn’t have the skills to get a “decent job to help support my family” so she went to university, which sparked an interest in economics and led her to join her local Liberal Party branch.
As the campaign to become the member for Farrer in 2001, Ms Ley towed a caravan around her vast electorate meeting people from all walks of life as she canvassed for support.
That van is now “enjoying retirement,” but she said it’s a “good analogy” for how she wants to approach her leadership.
“That taught me a great deal about meeting people where they are, and that’s my whole philosophy in terms of responding to our election defeat,” she said.
It’s a strategy she is confident will be just as effective in Australia’s cities, where the Liberal Party has been all-but wiped out, after a humiliating election loss on May 3.
“It’s not just about geography, it’s about your life circumstance,” she said.
Ms Ley is also aware she has a huge task in winning back the trust of women, who have abandoned the Liberals at consecutive elections.
“We have gradually seen a loss in support from women, and have to accept that, and I accept that with humility,” she said.
“But it also drives me to turn the corner and rebuild.”
Ms Ley won’t pre-empt the party’s review of its disastrous election result, but one “sobering” campaign observation sticks with her.
“Standing at pre-poll and watching women come through and either not meet my eye, or make it clear they weren’t supporting us, and sometimes the man in that partnership that walked through was quite possibly a Liberal voter, but the woman wasn’t,” she said.
“I realised in those moments we have to do much better.”
Ms Ley has previously called for quotas to bring more women into the parliament, something she said the Liberals “want” and “need”.
But this year she said “fantastic women” had put their hand up, but did not reach parliament because of the “very strong statement from the Australian people” against the Liberals.
“When we lose elections, we lose women, we lose candidates who didn’t make it into parliament, and we lose those are already here,” she said.
Asked about the bad campaign and whether her predecessor Peter Dutton was to blame, Ms Ley said everyone had “different reflections” of what went wrong.
“Obviously Peter and I are different people with different styles,” she said.
Ms Ley said her commitment to the Liberal candidates who lost was she wanted them to be “front and centre” of the party’s election review.
“The information they will have about why they didn’t win, will be highly relevant to why we didn’t win,” she said.
“That’s about listening to the people who will tell it as it is.”
Having promised no “captain’s calls,” Ms Ley has declined to pre-empt the future of key policies like the plan to build nuclear reactors in Australia.
But she does want to do policy differently.
“One of the things I’ve committed to doing is to have a thorough policy development process that involves members of our party room and places them very much in the driving seat when it comes to what comes forward for consideration,” she said.
The contrast of becoming leader and preparing to lose her mum have meant the past week has made for an “incredibly big week, without a lot of sleep,” for Ms Ley.
“But I feel grateful for the gifts that my mum has given me, grateful for the incredibly humbling opportunity that my party has given me to lead them at this challenging time, and I know I’m up for the job,” she said.
“I want to be part of a policy agenda that gives every Australian the opportunity to get ahead, to do well, to have a crack, to live their biggest life and dream their biggest dream.”
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Originally published as Sussan Ley tells of her final moments with her mother and her plans for the Liberal Party’s rebuild
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