Glass ceiling or glass cliff? What awaits Sussan Ley as first woman to lead the Liberals

The Liberal Party’s worst electoral wipeout has led to it choosing its first female leader.

Sussan Ley’s ascension to head of the federal Liberal Party will be celebrated as a milestone that has eluded the party for years. But it’s not a simple story of broken glass ceilings: Ley’s leadership success will depend on how she fixes a wounded brand that must claw its way back to relevance.

So Ley was asked on Tuesday, in her first press conference as leader, whether her election was an example of the “glass-cliff” phenomenon – where women are most likely to take up leadership positions when their organisation is on the precipice of disaster.

“I don’t accept that in my appointment,” Ley said. “I do say it sends a signal to the women of Australia that the Liberal Party has elected its first woman leader.

“But my agenda is much more than that. Of course, it is about connecting with women and listening to where we went wrong. But when you develop a cohesive, consultative party room process, it includes a range of views, and I know I can lead that effectively and well.”

Ley has been quick to rebuff suggestions that she will be the fall lady for the Coalition’s crisis. She emphasises that she put her hand up for the challenge. The pool of competitors had been hollowed out by electoral defeats and the unpalatable task, but Ley nonetheless won a bitter contest against Angus Taylor.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley: “We did let women down, there’s no doubt about that.”Credit: James Brickwood

Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh described it as a “historic moment”.

“I feel quite emotional in some ways, to have our first female leader,” she said. “It inspires me as a colleague, but it means I can go out to other young women who want to be in politics, who want to step into leadership positions, and give them hope.”

Former foreign minister and deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop sent Ley a congratulatory message on Instagram from Umbria, Italy. It read: “I send my warmest congratulations to Sussan Ley on her election as Liberal Party leader and wish her every success.”

Bishop resigned as foreign minister in 2018 when she was unsuccessful in her own leadership contest with Scott Morrison.

An outsized emphasis on gender is often placed on women’s firsts. It can become a trap of its own.

But there is no hiding the uniquely gendered element of the Liberal Party’s predicament: its existential problem is that it has lost the women voters it needs to form government.

Ley’s part in this is complicated by the fact that she was shadow minister for women and deputy leader while it occurred.

Her first stand-up as leader suggests she will weave this narrative delicately.

Ley introduced herself to Australians on Tuesday as one of “many mums” who started study in her 30s as she vowed to improve the Liberals’ standing among women, although she did not give a view on quotas for female MPs when asked at the press conference, despite calling for them to be considered over several years.

“We did let women down,” Ley said. “There is no doubt about that, and it is true that the number of women who are supporting us is declining. I want to rule the line under that. I don’t want to see that the decline for one more day. That means a genuine, serious engagement with a new leadership team and new agenda, and one that I will personally drive.”

But she also made a wider appeal, identifying as a migrant, small business owner and rural Australian who would take feedback from MPs and constituents on every policy, from net zero to immigration settings. “We will sit down with everyone – big, small, and medium business – and listen to the value that they add to the public policy debate,” she said.

On every policy question, Ley came back to listening and collaborating. These just happen to be leadership traits commonly attributed to women. Indeed, former Victorian Liberal premier Jeff Kennett said so when he endorsed Ley last week.

“My experience over life is that women are more consultative, they listen more, they think more than a lot of men,” said Kennett, who was famously criticised for silencing his own ministers. “I’m not suggesting she should be the next leader because she’s female – I’m saying it’s because I think she’s the best person for the job.”

It was a tacit concession that the more masculine leadership of the Liberals’ recent past had not served it. Ley’s pitch to voters on Tuesday established a sharp contrast with her predecessor, Peter Dutton, who was accused of only consulting a small inner circle.

And where Dutton’s brand of “strong man” leader meant he struggled to share a softer side with voters, Ley was unreserved on Tuesday as she revealed her mother was in palliative care.

“My mum is very sick and, on Mother’s Day, before I came up here, I called in to see her, and I thought that it might be the last time that I did,” Ley said.

Credit: Matt Golding

“I just wanted to mention my mum this morning… My mum grew up in wartime Britain, and the values of resilience, self-reliance, and persistence that I believe I have today come from her.”

Ley will need to draw on those tough traits, as well as listen, as she fights to hold the Coalition together.

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