On Tuesday morning, Federal Member for Farrer Sussan Ley was officially elected as the Liberal Party leader.

She is now the first ever woman to lead the Liberal Party since it formed more than 80 years ago.

Member for Hume Angus Taylor also put his hand up for the position, receiving 25 votes but ultimately lost to Ms Ley by four votes.

Member for Fairfax Ted O’Brien will support Ms Ley as the Liberals’ deputy leader.

During a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Ms Ley addressed the public for the first time as the Liberals leader.

She said that her passion for politics began in her early campaigning days, travelling along the Murray River.

“I am still just as passionate about the Liberal Party as I was when I hooked up my caravan... painted it with Liberal Party logos and towed it up and down the Murray River,” she said.

“What I learnt was people wanted me to listen to what their lives were like... I knew nobody in Canberra understood what life was like in the small rural community where I came from, and that fired my determination to walk into the government party room.”

Ms Ley first entered parliament in 2001 as the member for Farrer and has held the role of deputy leader for the Liberal Party since 2022.

During the most recent election, Ms Ley emerged victorious again, securing 43.57 per cent of the first preference vote in her seat, despite a 8.69 per cent swing against her.

Her success was not replicated by other Coalition candidates, the party having only claimed 42 of lower house seats to date.

Of the 42 Coalition seats, the Nationals retained all 15 of their seats across regional Australia.

Ms Ley put an end to claims that the Coalition would be splitting, emphasising that it was ‘stronger’ when there was a coalition between the Liberals and the Nationals.

Despite the Coalition’s success in regional and rural electorates, Ms Ley acknowledged that the Liberal Party ‘faced a significant defeat’ at the election and as a result, she would lead the party towards a modern approach that reflected ‘modern Australia’.

Questions of what the Liberals can offer women in the future were at the forefront of the press conference, especially with a woman now leading the party.

Ms Ley confirmed that there had been a decline in support for the Liberal Party from women.

“I said in my statement for candidacy in this position that we did let women down," she said.

“It is true the number of women supporting us is declining, and I want to rule the line under that.”

She added that more women were needed to represent the Liberals across Australia.

“We need more women in our party organisation, and we need more women in our party room — had we done better at the last election, we would have outstanding women in the party room,” she said.

The Coalition’s energy policies also continue to be a major topic of interest, the party having pitched nuclear power as a policy at the election, moving away from net-zero targets as part of their campaign.

Ms Ley said the Liberals would be taking the time to reassess their policies.

“We would work through every single policy issue and canvas the different views and take the time to get it right,” she said.

“No policies have been adopted or walked away from at this time.”

Moving forward, Ms Ley is now tasked with the job of selecting her shadow cabinet, and said she would still appoint people who didn't support her in the running for Liberal leader.

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Sunday, 2nd February 2025

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