The Liberals have a new leader. But do they have stability?
At the time of publication, 93 seats had been declared for the Labor Party in the House of Representatives, 42 for the Coalition. Only three were still deemed too close to call.
History has shown that victory, in the case of Liberal leaders, can be a false prophet.
After Kevin Rudd took Labor to government in 2007, the Liberals went from leader John Howard, (who lost his seat) to Brendan Nelson to Malcolm Turnbull to Tony Abbott in the space of two years. They have since had Malcolm Turnbull again, Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton.
Dutton also lost his seat at the latest election. Ley was deputy leader of the party under him and was a cabinet minister in the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments.
She won the leadership on Tuesday by 29 votes to 25 from Angus Taylor. Ted O'Brien was elected deputy. This is the first step in a very long march for the party.
Ley would not be drawn on Tuesday on any policy positions or how her shadow ministry would take shape, saying instead that all policies would be thrashed out in the Coalition party room. But she was adamant on one point: 'We need more women in our party,' she said. She also said she wanted her opponent, Angus Taylor, to have a senior role and promised to pick her frontbench on merit rather than factional allegiance.
In the interests of the party, the first thing Ley needs to do is to vanquish the image of the poisoned chalice that is associated with Brendan Nelson's leadership. If she can rebuild the party, and bring it back in from the wilderness to which the electorate consigned it, then she will have climbed Everest.
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