Liberal party leadership race LIVE: Sussan Ley reveals family heartbreak she hid through leadership battle – as she’s grilled over future of Peter Dutton’s most controversial policy

Newly-elected Liberal Leader Sussan Ley has revealed a personal heartbreak she kept quiet during the leadership race.

‘I want to acknowledge my mum, Angela. My mom 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 told reporters.

‘She is in end-of-life care, and this week has been tough because I kept in touch with her and her medical team and my family.’

Ley said that once the press conference was over she would head straight to her mother’s bedside.

‘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. So thank you, Mum,’ she added.

Newly-elected Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley has said she is ‘up for the job’.

‘It is an enormous privilege to have been elected the leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party,’ she told reporters.

‘I am humbled. I am honoured. And I am up for the job. Ted (O’Brien), it’s terrific to have you join me as the deputy.’

She thanked colleagues and spoke about how the Liberal Party needed to ‘develop robust policy processes’, before launching into a personal biography.

‘My story is a migrant story. It’s a small-business story. It’s a rural Australia story. It’s a story about a mum and a family, and it is a modern Australian story,’ she said.

‘When I came to this country as a young girl from a cold English boarding school in my teenage years, I stepped out of the aeroplane at Brisbane Airport and I looked at this brilliant blue sky and I knew that I’d come to the best country on Earth,’ she added.

‘And I knew that Australia was a place where I could dream my biggest dreams – and I have. And I’ve never stopped feeling grateful for this country, for what it has given me.’

She added: ‘It is time to step up, regroup, and rebuild for the Australian people.’

Sussan Ley was quizzed on her views on so-called culture wars’ issues: whether she would stand in front of just the Australian flag.

Previous Liberal leader Peter Dutton said he would only stand in front of the Australian flag, rather than the Indigenous and Torres Strait islander flags, as the PM does.

‘We should unite under the one Australian flag. That is my firm view,’ she said.

Without being asked, she addressed the controversy around Welcome to Country ceremonies which erupted in the last week of the election campaign.

‘With respect to Welcome to Country, it is simple. If it matters, if it resonates then it is in the right place,’ she said.

‘As Environment Minister and Health Minister I listened carefully and participated in Welcome to Country ceremonies that were all of those things.

‘If it is done in a way to tick a box on the Teams meeting then I don’t think it is relevant. I think it diminishes the value of what it is and it’s important we understand that.’

Sussan Ley described Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as a ‘talented communicator’ – and insisted she would not ice out any previous opponents when it comes to senior positions.

‘I will say this — my shadow cabinet will include people who did support me in this room this morning, and people who did not,’ Ley said.

Sussan Ley was grilled about the Coalition’s controversial nuclear policy.

But she insisted there would be ‘no captain’s calls from anywhere by me’.

Ley said she planned to ‘work through every single policy issue and canvas the different views and take the time to get it right’.

Asked directly again about the commitment to net zero, she said that every policy was on the table.

‘No policies have been adopted or walked away from at this time,’ she said, firmly.

Angus Taylor has congratulated the new Liberal leader Sussan Ley.

‘Sussan has led a remarkable life and becoming the first woman to lead the Liberal Party is a milestone for Sussan and our party,’ he said.

He said that serving as Shadow Treasurer had been ‘one of the greatest honours of my time in public office’.

Taylor talked up the Coalition’s ‘strong and practical plans’ that they took to the election but acknowledged the party ‘must do more to convince Australians that the Coalition is the best party to support aspiration, economic opportunity, and the Australian dream,’ he added.

‘We must do better and we must unify.’

‘The Liberal Party has a proud history, and I firmly believe in its future. I will contribute the best way I can to help get us back in the fight.

‘It is crucial Australia has a strong and competent opposition to hold this Labor government to account.

‘I thank my colleagues, my supporters, and the people of Hume for their ongoing encouragement and endorsement.

‘Together, we will work to earn back the trust of Australians and build a stronger future for our party, and importantly, for our country.’

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has congratulated Sussan Ley and her deputy Ted O’Brien, while explaining her own decision to pull out of the deputy leadership race.

‘While I am disappointed Angus Taylor was not elected leader, I respect the decision made by my colleagues within the party room todaym’ she said in a statement reported by the ABC.

‘I was contesting the position of deputy leader on a ticket with Angus Taylor, and given the outcome with respect to the position of leader of the Liberal Party, I chose not to contest the position of deputy leader.

‘I recognise that I am new to the party, and am grateful that our party is one that afforded me the opportunity to consider putting myself forward for the position of deputy leader in those circumstances.

‘Ultimately, I want the best outcome for all Australians – that is why I entered politics, and why I continue to serve as a member of the Australian parliament.

‘So while the outcome today is not the one that I would have wanted, it in no way lessens my commitment to the Liberal Party and the broader Coalition.

‘Nor does the outcome lessen my resolve to rebuild and strengthen the Liberal Party.’

Australia’s re-elected PM Anthony Albanese (front row, fifth from left) and the Governor-General Sam Mostyn (front row, fourth from left) pose for a group picture with his cabinet members after a oath-taking ceremony at Government House in Canberra

Sussan Ley’s election to leader of the Liberal Party will boost her pay by around $140,000.

As a shadow minister, she was on $233,660 plus 25 per cent loading, so around $290,000.

Now she is the Opposition Leader she will be on $233,660 plus 85 per cent loading, so around $430,000.

Angus Taylor and his supporters won’t sit back, accept this defeat and end his bid to take over.

Conservative political commentator Rita Panahi has slammed the Liberal Party as ‘slow learners’ for electing Sussan Ley as their new leader.

‘Malcolm Turnbull in a skirt,’ she said on Sky News, before repeating the claim on X.

It is a line first used by Sky News host and former Tony Abbott adviser Peta Credlin to describe Julie Bishop.

And why does she spell her name that way?

All is revealed in PVO’s pre-ballot readthrough of the rivals for the Liberal Party leadership.

Sussan Ley has been confirmed as the new leader of the Liberal party, making history as the party’s first female leader.

Daily Mail Australia understands she won the vote 29-25 against Angus Taylor.
Jacinta Price has announced she will no longer be running for deputy leader of the party.

Ley, 63, is one of the Liberal Party’s most experienced hands, having served as a Cabinet minister under the Coalition’s past three prime ministers – Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.

A former commercial pilot, farmer and public servant, she has held the blue ribbon seat of Farrer in NSW’s south-west following the retirement of her long-serving successor and former National Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer.

Ley is a mother of three. Her surname is pronounced ‘Lee‘.

Ted O’Brien (pictured with Ley, below) has been elected Deputy Leader, defeating Phil Thompson by 38 to 16.

Sussan Ley strode into the Liberal Party room on her own , looking like she means business.

Meanwhile, Angus Taylor followed a few moments afterwards.

But his purposeful stride was undone by his attempts to open the wrong door.

He will be hoping it’s not a sign of things to come…

The PM and his fiancee Jodie Haydon arrive at Government House

Albanese resigns before he is then sworn in again as PM

Australian Aged Care Minister Sam Rae arrives with members of his family. Rae’s elevation to the cabinet came at the expense of Mark Dreyfus and Ed Husic

Foreign Minister Penny Wong arrives with her daughter Alexandra

Governor-General Sam Mostyn has shared a video explainer about what happens during the swearing-in ceremony for the new government frontbench.

‘It starts with the Prime Minister coming in fairly early in the morning,’ she said.

Mostyn explains that Albanese needs to first resign before being sworn in again as PM.

This is then followed by swearing in the new ministry.

Former ABC breakfast host Michael Rowland said the video was ‘awesome’.

‘What a great explanation of the swearing-in process,’ he added.

Watch the explainer below:

Nationals Leader David Littleproud was asked if he still trusts Jacinta Nampijinpa Price after she defected to the Liberal Party.

Senator Price defected from the Nationals party room to sit with the Liberal Party room.

As a member of the Country Liberal Party, she can choose between the two. But it was widely seen as a betrayal.

However, Littleproud claims he still trusts her.

‘Yes, I do. The reality is … we gave Jacinta every support we possibly could. We were the first ones to support her in the “No” case,’ he told the ABC.

‘The reality is that her ambitions exceed what the National Party can provide. You can’t be the Prime Minister (in) the national party, I accept that.

‘We’re deeply disappointed. We’ll work through that process. This is more than about my ego (or) anyone else’s ego. This is about the Australian people.’

Senator Price is running for Deputy Leader of the party on Angus Taylor’s ticket against Sussan Ley.

The winner of the Liberal leadership could be handed a poisoned chalice as they are tasked with resurrecting the party from its post-election ashes.

Liberal politicians will choose their next leader on Tuesday after Australians handed them a bruising election defeat that decimated their ranks and took out Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Deputy Leader Sussan Ley will face off against Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, while Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has teamed up with Mr Taylor in a bid to become his second-in-command.

There is no reason to assume whoever takes the job won’t last until the next election, and the absence of a deep bench could bode well for them, Australian National University politics lecturer Jill Sheppard said.

But leading the coalition when it holds less than half as many seats as Labor is a tough ask, and there is a reason other contenders such as Dan Tehan and Andrew Hastie were quick to rule themselves out.

‘It does feel like a bit of a poisoned chalice,’ Dr Sheppard told AAP.

‘Usually, they at least pretend to want to run for a few days.

‘The most important day-one job is to keep the party united, and that’s not going to be easy when there’s a lot of recriminations to be had.’

About 50 Liberal politicians are expected to vote on the party’s future, including recently returned MP Tim Wilson, who also considered throwing his hat in the ring.

Moderates have urged the Liberals to abandon culture wars and return to the centre but Dr Sheppard warned that might not solve the party’s problems.

Coming up with policies that stuck closer to the centre could make it harder for the Liberals to differentiate themselves from Labor, she said.

Some of the coalition’s lost votes likely bled to hard-right parties such as One Nation, which could spark internal debates about the importance of ‘culture wars’ to some constituents.

However, it is unclear whether the next leader will be able to change the Liberal Party’s ideological direction.

‘You’re still dealing with the same party room,’ Dr Sheppard said.

‘What we’ve seen with both Dutton and (Prime Minister Anthony) Albanese is that you can come from quite extreme parts of your party, but in order to maintain the leadership, you have to sit somewhere around the centre.

‘To an extent, it doesn’t matter who is leader – the parties are pretty strong and they will constrain their leader.’

The vote will be the first time Senator Price has stepped into the Liberal party room after she defected from the Nationals to join Mr Taylor’s ticket.

The Nationals re-elected David Littleproud as their leader on Monday following a challenge from conservative senator Matt Canavan.

Giving Tanya Plibersek social security without responsibility for the NDIS is similar to having given her environment without climate change in the last parliament. It’s a snub, effectively limiting her responsibilities to pensioners and the unemployed.

It’s clever though, because it’s very hard to suggest the role of minister for social services is a nothing portfolio. It still includes a large chunk of recurrent government spending, just not spending the minister can do much to shape.

Read Poltiical Editor PVO’s full analysis of the PM’s new-look frontbench below: