13-05-2025
Sussan Ley promises 'sensible centre'
Samantha Donovan: We start this evening with the election of the first woman to lead the Liberal Party in federal parliament. Sussan Ley had a narrow win over rival Angus Taylor, 29 votes to 25. She's describing herself as a leader for the sensible centre and now has the huge job of rebuilding the Liberal opposition after its disastrous showing at the federal election. Nick Grimm prepared this report.
Sussan Ley: Feeling confident, looking forward to a Liberal Party party room meeting.
Nick Grimm: A former punk rocker, one-time public servant turned aerial stock-mustering pilot, Sussan Ley has seen plenty of Liberal party room gatherings in her 24 years in federal parliament, but this might have been the one where she had most at stake. She arrived alone, as did her leadership opponent, though in an ill portent of how things might unfold, a locked door blocking Angus Taylor's access to the party room meeting. He soon found an alternative route, but it wasn't long until the party determined its own future course.
Melissa Price: The Liberal Party has met and we have determined that the new leader of our Liberal Party is Sussan Ley, with 29 votes and Angus Taylor, 25.
Nick Grimm: With just a few votes between them, the result was hardly a ringing endorsement from Sussan Ley's party colleagues, still battered and bruised from their election loss. Angus Taylor later releasing a written statement congratulating his new party leader and urging Liberals to unify and earn back the trust of Australian voters, while Sussan Ley offered this olive branch in return.
Sussan Ley: Can I acknowledge Angus Taylor for putting his hand up to lead the Liberal Party. He would have been a fine leader of the Liberal Party at this time.
Nick Grimm: Sussan Ley also revealing she'd given a hug to another colleague with leadership ambitions, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa-Price, who defected from the Nationals party room to stand as Angus Taylor's deputy. Ultimately though, she didn't put herself forward for that vote, which in the end saw Ted O'Brien emerge as the successful candidate. Meanwhile, the new Liberal leader says she plans to do things differently and bring a fresh approach to steering the party towards what she vows can be a competitive position at the election in three years' time.
Sussan Ley: We have to have a Liberal Party that respects modern Australia, that reflects modern Australia and that represents modern Australia. And we have to meet the people where they are. And that's what I am committed to doing and what I'm determined to do.
Nick Grimm: Asked whether the party will stick with its controversial plan for nuclear power or whether it will support net zero emissions reductions, she's promised to consult with her colleagues on energy policy, vowing there'll be no captain's picks under her leadership. And she dismisses suggestions she'll be a caretaker leader only for a party that needs to rebuild.
Sussan Ley: I've heard those remarks and I find them interesting and 100% I will be here in three years, but more than that, we will be in a competitive position.
Nick Grimm: And as the first woman chosen to lead her party through one of its most challenging periods in opposition wilderness, she had this when asked if she'll be confronted by the so-called glass cliff phenomenon.
Sussan Ley: It's an interesting question, the glass cliff, and I actually don't accept it in my appointment. But I do say that it does send a signal to the women of Australia that the Liberal Party has elected its first woman leader.
Nick Grimm: One of the key challenges facing the Liberals will lie in winning back a host of metropolitan seats lost at the election. And with that comes an acknowledgement a period of introspection will be necessary. Queensland MP Andrew Wallace.
Andrew Wallace: The party room decided that Sussan was the best person to take us forward. You know, for those seats that, you know, like my own on the Sunshine Coast, that there was a very strong teal challenge. We need to understand better what was attracting people to vote for a teal.
Nick Grimm: And there's been this from Victorian Liberal Aaron Violi.
Aaron Violi: There are a lot of lessons from this result as a party we need to take and we have to do it as a collective. We have to work together to understand where we went wrong, why we were rejected by the Australian people. Be humble, listen, learn and move forward as a collective. It's the only way we can survive.
Samantha Donovan: Victorian Liberal MP Aaron Violi. Nick Grimm with that report.
