Sussan Ley has declared she will run for the leadership of the Liberal Party and could make history as the party’s first female leader.
Ms Ley, who is currently serving as acting leader, made the announcement just before 7.15am after days of speculation.
The party-room will now decide the new leader at Parliament House next Tuesday.
Appearing on Sunrise, Ms Ley was grilled by host Natalie Barr about the Liberal Party’s “woman problem”.
Barr confronted Ms Ley about whether she was familiar with the term glass cliff – “when a woman is given a senior position where the risk of failure is high.”
“It is pretty, probably, common knowledge that your party has a woman problem. Is that what’s happening here? They’re putting you in to clean up the mess?,’’ she asked.
“I’m putting my hand up, Nat. I’m determined and convinced that I am the right person to lead the party forward at this time and I think my appointment would send a strong signal to the women of Australia, but it’s about much more than that. It is about the policy offering,’’ Ms Ley replied.
“It is about what modern Australia expects of us as Liberals. It is about working collegiately across our party and it is about a strong work ethic, something that I’m known for in our party and in our country. I’m not going to take a backward step.
“We can be successful. We can win the next election. And this is a moment to look forward to and really bring the Australian people with us on this journey.”
“We did let the women of Australia down. That’s part of the conversations I have been having and we will continue to have. We have to understand why people didn’t support us, that they weren’t inspired by our policy offerings and that they didn’t believe we were the best choice to lead the country forward.”
Natalie Barr asked Sussan Ley the question everyone is thinking: “(are they) putting you in to clean up the mess?”
‘We got it wrong’
Earlier in the interview, Ms Ley made a candid admission about the Liberal Party in the aftermath of a landslide election loss to Labor.
“I have been having many conversations with my colleagues, members of the community, with members of the party, indeed the Coalition, with everyday Australians,’’ she said.
“I have listened. We got it wrong.
“We need to do things differently, going forward, and we do need a fresh approach.
“So, on Tuesday morning when the Liberal Party room meets in Canberra, I will be putting myself forward for the position of leader of the Federal Party.”
Asked if she was confident she had the numbers, Ms Ley said she wanted to “harness all of the talent in my team, take it forward under my leadership and meet the Australian people where they are because, clearly we didn’t do that at the last election.”
Bitter factional fight as two contenders emerge
Ms Ley is expected to go head-to-head with the party’s treasury spokesman Angus Taylor, who is yet to formally declare his hand.
A bitter factional fight has already erupted with both camps trading blows.
Mr Taylor’s camp assert that Sussan Ley never spoke up in the budget lock up against the treasury spokesman’s disastrous decision to oppose Labor’s tax cuts.
She is being backed by Liberal powerbroker Alex Hawke who was also pivotal in the rise of Scott Morrison.
Ms Ley’s supporters assert that Mr Taylor has been an “absolute disaster” in the economic portfolio.
Ms Ley is currently serving as acting leader. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
Who is Sussan Ley?
The mother of three famously secured her pilot licence when she was 20 years old and worked briefly as an air traffic controller before joining the Australian Tax Office in Albury.
She also changed the spelling of her first name to Sussan, after discovering a numerology theory and joined a punk band in her youth.
More recently, she dressed as Tina Turner to raise money for a cancer charity.
She was first promoted to cabinet by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in December 2014, replacing Peter Dutton who was moved to the immigration portfolio in a cabinet reshuffle.
She ultimately served as Finance Minister and Health Minister before she was forced to step aside from cabinet over an expenses scandal.
During that period, Labor’s famed dirt unit leaked a dossier of travel records to newspaper outlets to engineer a political crisis.
Leaked emails in the book Party Animals outlined the political research unit’s success in triggering two of the biggest scandals to rock the Abbott and Turnbull government which weakened Tony Abbott’s leadership and also sparked a major review of travel rules.
Ms Ley has pledged to rebuild the party. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
Jacinta Price emerges as shock candidate for deputy
Meanwhile, prominent anti-Voice campaigner Jacinta Price dropped a bombshell on Thursday revealing that she will move to sit with the Liberal Party in an effort to “rebuild” the party after a blustering election loss.
“I am eager to fight for the best interests of all Australians as part of the Coalition,” Ms Nampijinpa Price said in a statement.
“I believe I will be more effective in this regard if I am a member of the Liberal Party, especially as the party faces a significant rebuild after Saturday.
“I want to bring back our core values of liberty, individual freedom and responsibility, the rule of law, free market and economic prosperity, minimal government intervention, a fair go and most of all, love for our nation, Australia.”
As a Country Liberal senator from the Northern Territory, she has the choice whether to sit in the party room of the Liberal Party of the Coalition partner the Nationals.
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price announced she will move to sit with the Liberal Party. Picture: Gera Kazakov
‘Traitor’ attack
While her defection is a huge coup for the Liberals her move has enraged the Nationals who called it the act of a “traitor.”
The Nationals are already set to lose their deputy leader Perin Davey after the election result and the defection could mean the party loses its “major party status” in the Senate.
“By doing this Jacinta is the Lidia Thorpe of the Coalition … before the votes are even counted, she’s switched to another side,” Mr Canavan told The Daily Telegraph.
“(Ms Nampijinpa Price) has disenfranchised the voter, disappointed the members of the Country Liberal Party, she used Nationals Party funds to elect herself and before she’s even elected she’s turned around.
“It’s a traitorous act.”
While it isn’t clear yet she is running on a ticket with Liberal Angus Taylor, Mr Taylor quickly moved to note he was “delighted” by Senator Price’s decision describing her as a “tireless advocate for Liberal values and a good friend”.
“Jacinta will be another strong voice at a time the Liberal Party must rebuild,” he posted on Twitter.
Ms Price’s move to the Liberals has enraged the Nationals who called it the act of a “traitor.” Picture: Patrick Hamilton/AFP
Senator Price and abortion stance
Last year, senior Coalition women rebuked Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s comments about abortion after she suggested she cannot support any abortion over 12 weeks of gestation.
Sussan Ley, Jane Hume and Bridget McKenzie – three of the most senior female members of the Liberal and National parties – warned that a “Coalition government has no plans, no policy and no interest in unwinding women’s reproductive rights.”
Senator Price has told the Nine newspapers she “cannot agree” with later term abortions, which she claimed was “anywhere past the [first] trimester as far as I’m concerned … Full-term becomes infanticide.”
Sussan Ley was among senior female members of the Coalition who warned the party “has no plans, no policy and no interest in unwinding women’s reproductive rights”. Picture:NewsWire/ Monique Harmer
Liberal MPs welcome Senator Price
Moments following her statement, prominent Liberal senator James Paterson, who is regarded as an ally of Mr Taylor in the leadership tussle, welcomed the switch.
“Delighted by friend @jacintanampijinpa has joined the @liberalaus. Welcome home Jacinta!” he posted on Instagram.
But the decision has clearly angered Nationals Leader David Littleproud.
“The Nationals negotiated an extra position in the Shadow Cabinet before the election, to give Senator Nampijinpa Price a promotion and Shadow Ministerial opportunity,” he said.
“The Nationals were the first to lead the ‘No’ case in relation to the Voice, backing Senator Nampijinpa Price early and before anyone else did.
“I appreciate Senator Nampijinpa Price has ambition that extends beyond the possibilities of The Nationals and I wish her well.”
“The Liberals will need to rebuild after Saturday’s election and Senator Nampijinpa Price will play a key role in that recovery, while The Nationals are proud to have kept all of our Lower House seats,” he said.
Co-ordinated attacks on Angus Taylor
The fight between Ms Ley and Liberal Party treasury spokesman Angus Taylor erupted on election night with her supporters slamming him as “an absolute disaster”.
While the contest in theory isn’t a factional fight, Mr Taylor is associated with the right faction and Ms Ley the Centre Right led by powerbroker Alex Hawke.
Mr Taylor, though, may have a harder time, with one colleague blasting his performance as the opposition’s numbers man.
“I have concerns about his capability,” Liberal senator Hollie Hughes told the ABC on Monday.
Ms Ley is expected to go head-to-head with the party’s treasury spokesman Angus Taylor, who is yet to formally declare his hand. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer
“I feel that we have zero economic policy to sell. I don’t know what he’s been doing for three years.
“There was no tax policy, there was no economic narrative, and the fact that we’re in a massive cost-of-living crisis and Jim Chalmers is basically through unscathed.”
Senator Hughes and Angus Taylor
Outgoing Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes has beef with Angus Taylor because he didn’t support her preselection fight.
“He’s been an absolute disaster because of the failure to develop a tax policy,’’ a Liberal MP said.
The Liberals have come under fire for vowing to repeal Labor’s modest $10 a week tax cut and offering only temporary tax relief in the form of a fuel excise cut for one year only and a $1200 tax cut that was a one-off.
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