Ley’s David v Goliath moment as Lib veteran leads inexperienced team into battle

Sussan Ley will lead one of the most inexperienced shadow ministries in modern history, with only 39 per cent of her picks previously serving as cabinet ministers.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, right, and Deputy Leader Ted O'Brien in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Sussan Ley will lead one of the most inexperienced shadow ministries in modern history, with only 39 per cent of her picks previously serving as cabinet ministers and the Coalition team boasting 114 years less parliamentary experience than Anthony Albanese’s cabinet.

The tale of the tape comparing the Prime Minister’s cabinet and Opposition Leader’s shadow cabinet reveals a dearth of parliamentary and ministerial experience on the Coalition side and a high proportion of former union officials and political staffers in Labor’s line-up.

Analysis by The Australian reveals nine of Ms Ley’s 23 shadow cabinet members have served in previous Coalition government cabinets. In contrast, 21 of 23 Labor cabinet ministers have sat around the cabinet table in previous governments including Mr Albanese, Penny Wong and Tony Burke, who were cabinet ministers between 2007 and 2013.

Mr Albanese’s leadership group, which includes Senator Wong, Mr Burke, Richard Marles, Katy Gallagher, Don Farrell, Mark Butler and Jim Chalmers, has a combined 147 years of parliamentary experience. Around the cabinet table, there is a total of 360 years of experience in federal parliament.

The Coalition shadow cabinet has a combined 246 years of parliamentary service, with Ms Ley the longest-serving member at 24 years.

No member of Ms Ley’s shadow cabinet served in Tony Abbott’s 2013 cabinet or John Howard’s final 2007 cabinet. Only three current Coalition members – Ms Ley, Michaelia Cash and Darren Chester – served in junior roles in the Abbott government ministry.

Ms Ley and Senator Cash are the two survivors from Malcolm Turnbull’s 2016 cabinet line-up, while eight of the current group were among Scott Morrison’s 24-member cabinet ahead of the 2022 election, including factional chieftain Alex Hawke, who had a seven-month cabinet stint in the dying days of the Morrison government.

The Coalition frontbench team, which includes a raft of shadow ministerial rookies, is drawn from a depleted talent pool following the loss of high-profile or emerging MPs and senators at the 2022 and 2025 elections including David Coleman, Michael Sukkar and Keith Wolahan.

There has been consternation in Coalition ranks since the electoral wipeout of the Liberal Party on May 3, which dumped Peter Dutton from parliament and delivered Mr Albanese a historic 94 seats in the House of Representatives.

Ms Ley and Angus Taylor were considered by colleagues the two most experienced options to rebuild the broken Liberal Party, with 63-year-old Ms Ley pipping Mr Taylor for the leadership in a close vote.

Liberal sources said while every effort would be made to be competitive at the 2028 election, it was more likely the Coalition is facing a two-term proposition to return to power.

“What didn’t help us in that last term was that very few of the senior people in key roles had ever served in opposition. Many had come in after Tony Abbott’s 2013 victory,” a source said.

Another Liberal source said “Sussan is one of the most experienced MPs to ever lead a political party in this building”.

The rise of Mr Hawke into Ms Ley’s leadership group, the elevation of moderate powerbrokers who backed Ms Ley including James McGrath and Scott Buchholz, and the absence of former finance spokeswoman Jane Hume, Claire Chandler and Sarah Henderson, has ruffled feathers in the Liberal partyroom.

Anthony Albanese. Picture: Tertius Pickard

After keeping out of the spotlight following the election and falling out with colleagues in the moderate faction she notionally led in the wake of Simon Birmingham’s retirement, Senator Hume on Friday broke her silence.

Snubbed when Ms Ley chose her shadow cabinet and frontbench team, Senator Hume acknowledged she felt “hurt” by her dumping.

“If you’re asking me whether I feel hurt or slighted by this move from Sussan, well, look, of course it hurts. It hurts professionally because I was such a hardworking and prolific and high-profile member of the frontbench in the previous opposition. It hurts personally, too, because Sussan and I are friends,” Senator Hume told Sunrise.

“But isn’t this the point now? This isn’t the playground. This is the parliament. I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to make a difference. There is something very liberating about being on the backbench and being able to speak without having to stick to the party line and without having to stick to talking points.”

Internal criticism from some Liberal and Nationals MPs about the Coalition frontbench lineup has focused on the belief that Ms Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud formulated their team on the grounds of jobs for supporters.

The promotion of Nationals MP Pat Conaghan, a key Littleproud backer who arrived in parliament in 2019, as opposition assistant treasurer and financial services spokesman was highlighted by Coalition MPs as “astounding”.

The decision by Ms Ley to hand Mr Littleproud a junior economic portfolio pits a former NSW cop and regional solicitor against Daniel Mulino, a respected economist with a PhD from Yale University. The portfolio includes oversight of the $4.2 trillion superannuation industry and Labor’s controversial plan to introduce a tax on unrealised capital gains beginning with super funds valued at more than $3m.

Mr Littleproud did not include three former cabinet ministers in Michael McCormack, Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan in his lineup, while elevating Nationals senator Ross Cadell, who entered the Senate in 2022, into shadow cabinet.

Ms Ley, who will lead one of the smallest opposition benches in recent years when the 48th parliament commences on July 22, also handed big promotions to key backers and moderates with limited government or opposition ministry experience.