Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Sussan Ley
Australian politician (born 1961) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Sussan Penelope Ley (pron. /ˈsuːzən ˈliː/, "Susan Lee";[1] née Susan Penelope Braybrooks; born 14 December 1961) is an Australian politician who is the Leader of the Opposition and leader of the Liberal Party since May 2025,[2] being the first woman to hold either role. Prior to assuming the party leadership, she was the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and deputy leader of the Liberal Party. Ley served as a cabinet minister in the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments. She also served as a parliamentary secretary in the final term of the Howard government.
Ley was born in Nigeria to English parents and grew up in the Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates) and England before moving to Australia as a teenager. Prior to entering politics, she worked as a commercial pilot, farmer and public servant based in Albury, New South Wales. She was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2001 federal election representing the regional New South Wales division of Farrer.
In the Abbott and Turnbull governments, Ley held various ministerial portfolios including Health, Sport, and Aged Care. She resigned from the ministry in January 2017 following a controversy over her travel expense claims, but returned in August 2018 when Scott Morrison succeeded Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister. She subsequently served as Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories and Minister for the Environment prior to the government's defeat at the 2022 federal election. Following the 2025 federal election, Ley became the acting leader of the Liberal Party[3][4] and won the subsequent Liberal leadership election to become leader of the Liberal Party and therefore Leader of the Opposition.[2]
Remove ads
Early years and education
Summarize
Perspective
Susan[5][6] Penelope Braybrooks was born the daughter of English parents, Edgar Hosken Braybrooks and Angela Mary Braybrooks née Weston,[7] on 14 December 1961 in Kano, Northern Region, Federation of Nigeria.[8] Her family moved to the Trucial States (United Arab Emirates) when she was one year old, where her father worked as a British intelligence officer. They lived first in Qatar, then Sharjah, then Dubai, then in the city of Abu Dhabi, and lastly Al Ain. Her father worked with the sheikhs who ruled the states at that time.[9] Ley attended boarding school in England until she was 13 years old, when her family migrated to Australia.[10]
Her parents bought a hobby farm in Toowoomba, Queensland, but quickly sold it due to a crash in beef prices. They then moved to Canberra, where her father worked for the Australian Federal Police (AFP).[11] Ley attended Campbell High School and Dickson College in Canberra for her secondary schooling.[11] Ley initially said she changed her name from Susan to Sussan after reading about numerology[5] some time after leaving school,[12] although in a 2025 interview she said that, as a rebellious teenager, she added the extra "s" to annoy her family.[13]
After marrying and settling on her husband's family farm outside Tallangatta in north-east Victoria and having three children, Ley started studying economics part-time at La Trobe University. She then became employed at the Australian Taxation Office at Albury[9] as director of technical training from 1995 to 2001.[14] While working there, did a master's degree in tax law,[9] and, in 2000, a master of accountancy at Charles Sturt University.[15] Her grandfather was a Church of England minister in England and she attended an Anglican church in Albury.[16]
She has also worked as a commercial pilot and shearers' cook.[14]
Remove ads
Political career
Summarize
Perspective
Ley joined the Liberal Party's Tallangatta branch in 1994.[8] She was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2001 election, winning the New South Wales seat of Farrer for the Liberal Party following the retirement of former National Party leader and deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, beating the Nationals candidate by 206 votes. At the time of her election she was living across the border in Old Tallangatta, Victoria, and had recently lost Liberal preselection for the Victorian seat of Indi to Sophie Mirabella. She campaigned in "a large caravan, brightly painted in Liberal blue".[17]
Howard government (2001–2007)
In the Howard government, Ley was appointed Parliamentary Secretary (Children and Youth Affairs) in October 2004 and Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in January 2006.[8]
Opposition (2007–2013)
Following the 2007 election, Ley was appointed Shadow Minister for Housing and Shadow Minister for Status of Women by Opposition Leader, Dr Brendan Nelson,[18] moving to Shadow Minister for Customs and Justice when Malcolm Turnbull became Opposition Leader in September 2008.[19]
When Tony Abbott became Opposition Leader in December 2009 she was given the portfolio of Shadow Assistant Treasurer[20] and was moved to Shadow Minister for Employment Participation and Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning after the 2010 election.[21]
Abbott and Turnbull governments (2013–2018)
In September 2013, following the Coalition's victory at the 2013 federal election, Ley was appointed Assistant Minister for Education in the Abbott government, with responsibility for childcare.[22] Following a ministerial reshuffle, she was promoted to cabinet in December 2014 as Minister for Health and Minister for Sport.[23][24][25][26] She was also made Minister for Aged Care in September 2015 following the replacement of Tony Abbott with Malcolm Turnbull.[27]
In January 2017, an examination of Ley's expenditure claims and travel entitlements revealed she had purchased an apartment on the Gold Coast, close to the business premises of her partner, for $795,000 while on official business in Queensland. Ley defended the purchase, saying her work in the Gold Coast was legitimate, that all travel had been within the rules for entitlements, and that the purchase of the apartment "was not planned nor anticipated"[28] (a claim which was widely derided).[29] On 8 January, Ley released a statement acknowledging that the purchase had changed the context of her travel, and undertaking to repay the government for the cost of the trip in question as well as three others.[30] The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Ley had made 27 taxpayer-funded trips to the Gold Coast in recent years.[31]
On 9 January 2017, Ley announced that she would stand aside from her ministerial portfolios until an investigation into her travel expenses was completed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. She announced that she would not be making her diaries public.[32] On 13 January 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that Ley had resigned from the ministry.[33] Greg Hunt was appointed as Ley's replacement as the Minister for Health and Sport, and Ken Wyatt was appointed Assistant Minister for Health and Minister for Indigenous Health and Aged Care,[34] both with effect from 24 January 2017.[35]
Morrison government (2018–2022)
During the 2018 Liberal leadership spills, Ley reportedly voted for Peter Dutton against Malcolm Turnbull in the first vote.[36] She subsequently signed the petition requesting to hold a further party meeting to determine the leadership of the Liberal party,[37] and again voted for Dutton against Scott Morrison in the second spill days later, which saw Morrison replace Turnbull as prime minister.[38]
On 26 August 2018, Ley was appointed Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories in the Morrison government.[8] In May 2019, following the party's victory at the 2019 election, she replaced Melissa Price as Minister for the Environment.[39]
In March 2022, Ley successfully appealed a Federal Court ruling that she had a "duty of care to children to consider climate change harm when approving coal mines".[40]
Also in March 2022, Ley approved a Coalition decision to scrap 176 out of 185 recovery plans designed to prevent the extinction of threatened species and habitats, including the Tasmanian devil. This was despite a government call for feedback, which received 6701 responses, all disagreeing with the proposed removal of the recovery plans.[41]
Opposition (2022–2025)
_(cropped).png)
Following the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 election, it was reported that Ley would be a candidate to replace Josh Frydenberg as deputy leader of the party, following his electoral defeat.[42] Ley was elected unopposed on 30 May 2022.[43]
In July 2022, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek accused Ley, the former Environment Minister, of hiding a document that was handed to the coalition government in December 2021, ahead of the 2022 Australian federal election. The document outlined the poor and declining health of the Australian ecosystem. "It tells a story of crisis and decline in Australia's environment [and] of a decade of government inaction and wilful ignorance," Ms Plibersek said.[44][45]
In August 2022, ahead of the Jobs and Skills Summit of Australia, Ley falsely stated that no one in the world is making an electric ute.[46] "We know we're not going to have electric vehicles tomorrow," Ms Ley said. "And no one in the world is making an electric ute, by the way, and even if they were it would be unaffordable." . After commentators pointed out that electric utes were already in production, a spokesperson for Ms Ley said that Ms Ley meant that, "EV utes are not yet commercially available in Australia and even if EV utes arrived here overnight, cost-effective models — which invariably have lower distance ranges — are not yet suitable for practical use in rural and regional Australia."[47]
In October 2022, Ley travelled to Israel, leading a delegation on a trip organised by AIJAC, to reaffirm the Coalition’s commitment to West Jerusalem as the nation’s capital and observe the impact of the Abraham Accords.[48] Ley said the accords and her visit had changed her view.[49]
In March 2023, Ley dressed up as Tina Turner in Parliament to raise money for cancer.[50]
In February 2024, on the eve of the 2024 Dunkley by-election, Ley posted a tweet linking a crime incident in Frankston to "foreign criminals".[51] Victoria Police had charged an immigration detainee but later dropped the charges after a case of mistaken identity. Speaking after the police bungle was revealed, a spokesperson for Ms Ley told the ABC the deputy leader stood by her comments completely, suggesting it spoke to the broader issue of how the government had handled the release of the detainees into the community.[52] Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was "extraordinary" that Ley had refused to delete her tweet.[53]
Remove ads
Leader of the Opposition (2025–present)
Incumbent party leader Peter Dutton lost re-election for his seat of Dickson at the 2025 federal election,[54] making Ley the acting leader of the Liberal Party.[3][4] Ley won the subsequent party leadership election by 29 votes to 25, defeating conservative opponent Angus Taylor.[2][55]
Ley is the first woman elected to lead the Liberals, the Coalition, or serve as the Leader of the Opposition at the federal level in Australia.[2][56] At 63, Ley is also the oldest first-time Leader of the Opposition since Arthur Calwell in 1960.[57]
On 20 May 2025, the federal Coalition was temporarily dissolved due to policy disagreements between the Liberal and National parties.[58] Eight days later, on 28 May, the Liberal and National parties reached an agreement to re-form the coalition.[59] Ley appointed her shadow cabinet that day which is made up of 16 Liberal and 5 Nationals members with Ted O'Brien as the Deputy Leader and Shadow Treasurer.[60]
Political positions
Summarize
Perspective
Ley is a member of the moderate faction of the Liberal Party,[56][5][61] with ABC News stating that she had also been backed by the moderate faction in the leadership election where she was elected as a leader.[2]
Ley identifies as a feminist[62] and is a republican. In a 2022 interview, she stated "the times change, and no matter how relevant the monarchy might have been, no matter how elegant, it's definitely neither relevant or elegant to my children [...] and that view is widespread".[63] Ley voted for legalising same-sex marriage in 2017.[64]
In 2011, Ley publicly supported the admission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations and was reported to be a member of the cross-party Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group.[65] In June 2024, Ley criticised Labor's decision not to expel Fatima Payman after Payman crossed the floor to express support for Palestine, at which time Payman accused Israel of committing genocide during Gaza war and using phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".[66]
In May 2018, Ley introduced a private member's bill to ban the live export of sheep.[67][68] In 2023, Ley changed her position and stated her support for the sheep live export industry.[69]
In 2023, Ley supported the No vote in the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum.[70]
Ley has voiced support for Elon Musk and, during Australia Day celebrations in 2025, was quoted as comparing the British colonisation of Australia to Musk's intended colonisation of Mars.[71] In 2024, Ley said she was “disappointed” in Musk and backed the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, “I’m for X obeying the law, and I’m not for the actions and the statements of our eSafety commissioner being ignored."[72]
Remove ads
Personal life
Ley met John Ley while aerial stock-mustering in south-west Queensland. They married in 1987, settled on her husband's family farm in north-east Victoria, and had three children before their 2004 divorce.[73] Ley has multiple grandchildren, residing on the NSW Central Coast.[74] Ley lives in Albury, and owns an investment property in Albury and one on the Gold Coast.[75]
Ley is vegetarian.[16] She is a supporter of the Sydney Swans Australian rules football club.[76]
Ley's mother Angela Braybrooks died on 17 May 2025, four days after Ley's election as opposition leader.[77] She had been living in an aged care home in Albury, New South Wales.[78]
Remove ads
Notes
- Acting: 5–13 May 2025
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads