Federal election 2025: Libs leadership candidate Sussan Ley ‘frozen out’ of policy decisions by Peter Dutton

Liberal Party acting leader Sussan Ley was excluded from important campaign decisions by former leader Peter Dutton during and before the election, according to her supporters.

The assertion the party’s deputy leader should not be held responsible for the strategy that led to the Coalition’s defeat is part of the debate over how much blame she and fellow leadership contender Angus Taylor should take for one of the worst losses in the party’s history.

Ms Ley’s supporters argue Mr Taylor, the shadow treasurer, failed to convince voters they would be better off under a Coalition government. They say that Ms Ley did not have as much influence as Mr Taylor over important policies, and her less conservative image could win back centrist voters who switched to the Labor Party.

“She was frozen out by Dutton,” one Liberal MP said. “Sussan’s broad range of portfolio and life experience can chart us back to the middle which is where we need to win elections.”

A spokesperson for Mr Dutton did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

First step

Liberal MPs expect to choose a new leader next week, the first step towards what many expect will be a two-term turnaround for a party struggling to appeal to young people, women and inner-city residents.

Liberal MPs said it was unclear if immigration spokesman Dan Tehan would stand, likely leaving Ms Ley and Mr Taylor as the only contenders. Both are from country NSW.

Both sides say their candidate is narrowly ahead, although Mr Taylor is considered the front-runner because he comes from the right faction, which has the most MPs, although not a majority.

While Ms Ley is the left faction’s candidate, Liberal MPs said she was a member of the centre-right faction, which was centred around former prime minister Scott Morrison.

“She is not an arch moderate,” said a member of Liberals’ left faction in NSW. “Her political views are fairly conservative.”

‘Libberals’

In 2023 Ms Ley said enshrining an Indigenous Voice in the constitution could lead to Anzac Day being changed, a suggestion met with outrage from Voice supporters. She voted for same-sex marriage in 2017, although said she “probably wouldn’t have” ten years earlier.

Some of Mr Taylor’s supporters circulated a flyer alleging that Ms Ley is a poor fundraiser who was dismissed over an expenses scandal, a reference to being forced to step down as health minister in 2017 after buying an apartment during a ministerial trip to Queensland.

A separate meme predicts her first act as opposition leader would be to rename the party the “Libberals”, a reference to Ms Ley’s decision to change her Christian name from Susan to Sussan when she was young because she thought it would make her life more interesting.

On Thursday, some of Ms Ley’s supporters circulated an article from The Age newspaper advising Liberal Party MPs not to watch Sky News commentator Peta Credlin, a conservative critic of Ms Ley’s.

A federal MP who received the article said: “That’s right. You can’t win elections if you only watch Sky News.”

Joking around

As Liberals wait for close elections in Kooyong, Bradfield and Longman to be determined, the leadership contest became fodder for comedians.

Betoota Advocate editor Clancy Overell discussed speculation Melbourne backbencher Tim Wilson would run for leader, a suggestion Mr Wilson has not ruled out but one other Liberal MPs regard as a long-shot.

“Either way, he’s young, rich and gay,” Mr Overell wrote. “The gay thing will help with the female voters surely because it’s basically half way between Taylor and Sussan.

“Can’t say we have a woman problem when we have a gay leader? Does that make sense? Just not sure how the Nationals will feel about having to take orders from a bloke that bowls from the Paddington end.”

Paddington may be a reference to the Sydney suburb along the route of the city’s annual mardi gras parade.

Mr Wilson, who is married to a man but not wealthy, deployed his own humour on social media.

“Sorry, I just saw this,” he wrote on X. “I can think of someone ...”

His post was in response to a 14-month-old tweet by a supporter of the “teal” independents movement who said he had conducted historical research and found no record of a person regaining a seat lost to an independent federally or in Victoria.

Mr Wilson lost Goldstein in 2022 to independent Zoe Daniel and won it back on Saturday.