Sussan Ley has been elected as the leader of the Liberal Party – the first woman to have led the party since it was founded in 1944.
Ms Ley beat Angus Taylor, Treasury spokesperson, 29 votes to 25 according to the ABC.
Ted O’Brien was elected as the deputy leader beating Phil Thompson 38 to 16 votes.
Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who broke from the National Party with the intention of running for deputy leader of the Liberal Party under Angus Taylor, ultimately chose not to contest the position of deputy leader after Mr Taylor’s defeat by Ms Ley.
‘While I am disappointed Angus Taylor was not elected Leader, I respect the decision made by my colleagues within the party room today,’ said Ms Price
‘I was contesting the position of Deputy Leader on a ticket with Angus Taylor, and given the outcome with respect to the position of Leader of the Liberal Party, I chose not to contest the position of Deputy Leader.
‘I recognise that I am new to the Party, and am grateful that our Party is one that afforded me the opportunity to consider putting myself forward for the position of Deputy Leader in those circumstances.’
The Liberal Party now has to face the enormous job of rebuilding the party following the significant 2025 election Labor win that currently predicts that Labor will hold 92 seats in the lower house compared to the 42 held by the Liberal and National Party coalition. This is also combined with rumours that the National Party is considering its future relationship with the Liberal Party.
National Party sticks with Littleproud
National Party leader David Littleproud retained the party leadership after a challenge by Queensland Senator Matt Canavan.
Re-elected Page MP Kevin Hogan was elected as his new deputy leader following the loss of Perin Davey’s seat.
Mr Hogan won Page again with a slight swing against him of 0.4 per cent according to the ABC. On a two-party preferred basis he won 59.5 per cent of the vote against Labor’s newcomer Wendy Backhous on 40.5 per cent. Both Labor and the Greens had a swing towards them of 3.4 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively.
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