Sussan Ley becomes first woman to lead the federal Liberal Party
Sussan Ley is the first woman to lead the Liberal Party, defeating former shadow treasurer Angus Taylor in the battle to replace Peter Dutton as opposition leader after the party’s devastating loss at the election on May 3.
Ley, 63, was previously deputy leader of the party under Dutton.
Sussan Ley arrives at the Liberal Party room, before winning the leadership ballot.Credit: James Brickwood
She was elected by 29 votes to 25 in a meeting of the party’s 54 members and senators in Parliament House on Tuesday morning.
The member for Farrer in NSW, which runs along the Victorian border, was backed by party moderates, but she is personally associated with the small centre-right faction associated with MP Alex Hawke and former prime minister Scott Morrison.
