Congratulations, Sussan Ley, who has become the first federal Liberal leader with two X chromosomes.
It’s a first for the party in its 80-year history – as the first woman in charge of the opposition party, she will no doubt try and entice other females into the party.
But if you are thinking the Liberals have fully embraced gender diversity (it’s perhaps the only diversity they can manage atm), think again.
The vote for her leadership was close – she edged out treasury spokesperson Angus Taylor by 29 votes to 25.
It’s a reminder that there is a scene for every conceivable political situation in the ancient satirical BBC series Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister.
At one closed-door meeting scene, middle-aged pompous men sit around a table and say they support women being in government. Then, one-by-one they go around explaining how women wouldn’t suit their various departments.
So well done, to the Liberal Party, for acknowledging that the party needs to improve its look (by 29 to 25 votes) .
Being closely associated with the failure of the Liberal campaign is going to be a hard sell. Both Taylor and Ley are of the old worldly politik, and were dutiful senior foot-soldiers of Dutton’s senior team.
Well done Angus
Taylor has a long, long list of controversies and stuff ups on his Wiki page.
He is perhaps most well known for supporting himself on social media: ‘Fantastic. Great move. Well done Angus’.
Others include misleading parliament, and being accused of using $80 million of taxpayers’ money to buy water licences from two Qld properties owned by Eastern Australia Agriculture (EAA), of which Taylor was a former director.
He was also accused of forging a City of Sydney Council document and providing it to The Daily Telegraph, after Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, asked that his government declare a climate emergency.
Former commercial pilot Sussan Ley began in politics in 2001 under former PM John Howard.
Around that time, Howard brought in policy settings that jacked up the price of housing, and made it unaffordable for future generations to own a home.
Throughout the decades, Ley served under the abysmal Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments.
In 2017, Ley resigned as health minister after using a taxpayer-funded trip to purchase an apartment on the Gold Coast.
Behaviour like that in the olden days would have ended careers, but as Trump now proves, you can be gifted jumbo planes and receive military parades. It’s open slather and political ethics have all but vanished.
Ms Ley now faces the mammoth task of presenting a coherent governing alternative to Labor.
The Liberal-Nationals Coalition currently hold just 42 seats in the House of Representatives, compared to the government’s 93, with three electorates still too close to call.
Hans Lovejoy, editor
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