Bury the past, build a new future: Sussan Ley ‘up for the job’ of taking on Anthony Albanese

Sussan Ley has pledged to rebuild a broken Coalition, win back women voters, end factional allegiances and promote rivals after being elected the first female Liberal leader in the party’s 81-year history.

New Coalition leadership team … Sussan Ley and Ted O’Brien in the Parliament House courtyard in Canberra on Tuesday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

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Sussan Ley has pledged to rebuild a broken Coalition, win back women voters, end factional ­allegiances and promote rivals after being elected the first female Liberal leader in the party’s 81-year history.

The Opposition Leader – who beat Angus Taylor in a tight ballot on Tuesday by 29 votes to 25 said she was “up for the job” to take on Anthony Albanese and immediately moved to jettison historic positions she held on recognising Palestine and banning live sheep exports.

In the wake of the Coalition’s devastating May 3 election defeat, Peter Dutton and his team were criticised for freezing out ­frontbenchers and blocking the development and release of key policies.

Ms Ley, who indicated that gender quotas and policies including nuclear energy and net zero were all under review, committed to ending “captain’s calls” on policy by engaging in genuine consultation across her party room.

The 63-year-old also distanced herself from Mr Dutton’s attacks on big business and promised to “sit down with everyone – big, small and medium business – and listen to the value that they add to the public policy debate”.

Standing alongside new Deputy Opposition Leader Ted O’Brien, who defeated north Queensland MP Phil Thompson by 38 votes to 16 after Jacinta Nampijinpa Price chose not to run, Ms Ley said a visit to Israel with Jewish colleague Julian Leeser and Hamas’s October 7 terror attacks had changed her view on the Middle East.

While she remained a “steadfast friend of the Palestinian people”, Ms Ley said the Palestinian leadership had let them down and were not interested in peace with Israel. Ms Ley said the live-sheep export trade should continue ­because it was “safe, reliable and meets the animal welfare standards that it should”.

Ms Ley signalled a clean slate on contentious policies that failed at the election and shot down fears of recriminations by confirming Mr Taylor would hold an “integral role in our party”. She lauded Senator Price as “an amazing Indigenous Australian … who is a clear and ­talented communicator”.

With the Prime Minister on track to claim a historic 94 seats, Ms Ley described the vote for Labor as “very soft”.

“I will have more to say about the shaping of my shadow cabinet going forward but I will say this: my shadow cabinet will include people who did support me … and people who did not,” Ms Ley said.

Angus Taylor. Picture: Martin Ollman

Ahead of finalising frontbench positions following internal discussions and negotiations with Nationals leader David Littleproud over the next week, Ms Ley rejected characterisations about left and right, or moderate and conservative factions in the Liberal Party.

“I remember that (Robert) Menzies said … we’re calling it the Liberal Party, not the conservative party. We should remember that,” she said. “Our Liberal Party reflects a range of views from all walks of life that are welcome in our party room. And that is one of our great strengths. But I do believe that government is ultimately formed in the sensible centre.”

The mother of three and grandmother of six paid tribute to her 93-year-old mum Angela Braybrooks. Ms Ley will return to Albury to be with her mum who is in end-of-life 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 might be the last time that I did,” she said. “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.”

Liberal MPs from the camps of Ms Ley and Mr Taylor were confident they could work together to unite the depleted party. However, given the nature of the tight result, Ms Ley will likely come under pressure if she struggles to land blows on Mr Albanese over the next 12 to 18 months.

Moderate and conservative MPs said Mr Taylor’s decision last week to draft Senator Price from the Nationals party room and ­announce a joint ticket had damaged his candidacy.

A Liberal MP said Ms Ley had “said all the right things, it’ll be about what she does”.

With Mr O’Brien expected to claim the Treasury portfolio, Ms Ley’s frontbench team will likely include senior roles for proven performers and new talent including James Paterson, Andrew Bragg, Dan Tehan, Michaelia Cash, Anne Ruston, Zoe McKenzie, Aaron Violi and Tim Wilson. Andrew Hastie, considered a future leadership candidate, will likely shift to a frontline position outside the defence portfolio.

Liberals raised the energy portfolio as a potential role for Mr Taylor, who they believe could take the fight to Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen.

“I hope he gets a senior role. That will be important to MPs in the conservative flank,” a Liberal MP said.

Liberal MPs described decisions over the frontbench, due by next week, as Ms Ley’s “first test”.

Western Sydney Liberal MP Melissa McIntosh, who holds the Penrith-based seat of Lindsay, said Ms Ley’s appointment as the first female leader of the party was important, but stressed it was not ­“tokenistic” and based on merit.

“Angus and Sussan were both worthy contenders. It’s an important moment … the first female leader. But I want to be in no way tokenistic,” Ms McIntosh said.

Before entering parliament, Ms Ley worked as an air traffic controller, aerial stock mustering pilot, shearers’ cook, a wool and beef farmer and director of technical training at the Australian ­Taxation Office.

The Nigerian-born Liberal leader enrolled for university as a mature-aged student, completing a Bachelor of Economics at La Trobe University, a masters in tax from the University of NSW and a masters in accounting from Charles Sturt University. After joining the third-term Howard government in 2001, Ms Ley accelerated through party ranks to become a parliamentary secretary within three years before elevating into cabinet as health minister in 2014. Ms Ley served as a cabinet minister in the ­Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments, which included a hiatus between 2017 and 2019 after she resigned from cabinet following revelations she charged taxpayers for a trip to the Gold Coast where she bought a $795,000 apartment.