Sussan Ley has become the first woman to lead Australia’s opposition Liberal Party which suffered a bruising election loss to prime minister Anthony Albanese.
Born in Kano, Nigeria, to a British intelligence officer, Ms Ley is a former outback pilot who holds three finance degrees. She replaces Peter Dutton as leader of the conservative party after securing 29 votes in the partyroom, narrowly defeating Treasury spokesperson Angus Taylor, who received 25.
The 63-year-old is now the first woman to lead the federal Liberal Party in its 80-year history. In her first address to the country after her election, Ms Ley said her appointment as the first woman leader of the Liberal Party "sent a signal" to Australian women.
Although she said her agenda would be "much more than that", flagging the need for new policies on economic and tax reform.
"We did let women down, there is no doubt about that, and it is true that the number of women supporting us is declining and I want to rule a line under that," she told a press conference in Canberra, reflecting on the conservative party's loss.
Ms Ley said the Liberal Party needs to "meet modern Australia where they are" and "do things differently”.
"Government is always formed in the sensible centre," she added.
The reshuffle in the Liberal party comes after Mr Albanese won a historic second term on Tuesday after his Labor Party rode on the wave of backlash over global instability caused by Donald Trump's policies in the May 3 national election.
Mr Dutton, who had been labelled "DOGEy Dutton" by Labor, was believed to have lost mainly for echoing Mr Trump policies to cut thousands of public service jobs including diversity and inclusion roles.
Ms Ley, whose mother was in end-of-life care, spent her early childhood in the United Arab Emirates before she moved to Australia with her family in 1970s at the age of 13.
A former wool and beef farmer and tax office executive, Ms Ley holds three finance degrees and joined the Liberal Party in 1994.
Ms Ley is a mother of three and grandmother of six, and revealed in the past that she enjoyed a “brief punk rock period” in the 1980s. She added an extra S to her first name in her 20s, guided by numerology. Ms Ley is a former member of the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine and advocated for a two-state solution. She said the 7 October attacks against Israel have impacted her thinking but she still supports the Palestinian people.
“The hideous events of October the seventh in Gaza have changed my thinking on the entire subject. Having said that, I remain a steadfast friend of the Palestinian people,” she said.
During her speech, she launched an attack on Labor for its approach on Jewish Australians, saying the current government was the “biggest threat to social cohesion”.
“Everything that happens overseas, and I have reflected on that, has domestic implications,” she said.
“We have a foreign minister, Penny Wong, who has let down Australia in the UN, and we have a prime minister who is intent, it seems, on letting down Jewish Australians on the streets of our cities.”
Ms Ley has represented the vast regional seat of Farrer in New South Wales since 2001 and has held senior ministerial roles across multiple portfolios. She also served as deputy leader of the Liberal Party under Peter Dutton, making her one of the most experienced leaders in the Liberal party.
Former speaker Andrew Wallace said it is for her 24 years of experience that she has been made the leader of the party and it was not to send a message to women.
"If you're asking me was that the sole reason [to elect her as leader], absolutely not. Absolutely not."
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