Federal election 2025: Sussan Ley promises to bring women back to the Coalition

The two candidates for the Liberal Party leadership went public on Friday morning, with Angus Taylor offering a business-inspired restructuring of the defeated party and Sussan Ley promising to bring lost women voters back.

A former management consultant, Mr Taylor became the first to declare his candidacy, suggesting to a newspaper he would listen more to colleagues than last leader Peter Dutton, who was accused by party officials of centralising power in his office.

“There is a widely held view that it needs to be a more collaborative and collegiate environment, where we can have more robust debate despite differences of view,” Mr Taylor told The Australian Financial Review.

On the Seven Network’s Sunrise program, Ms Ley also promised to make the parliamentary Liberal Party a more collegiate workplace, while arguing her elevation would show Australians the party respects women.

“We did let the women of Australia down,” Ms Ley said. “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.”

Opinion polls show that Mr Dutton was more unpopular with women than men. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had similar levels of support among men and women in April, according to a YouGov poll.

Blame game

Latest counting has the Coalition on 41 seats and the Labor Party on 91, a victory greater than even the most optimistic prediction.

Who should share in responsibility for the loss is an important part of the choice of a new leader, Liberal MPs said. As the Coalition’s Treasury spokesman, Mr Taylor is being blamed by his internal opponents for failing to convince voters their lives would have been better under the Coalition.

A supporter of Ms Ley’s said this week she had been “frozen out” of decision making by Mr Dutton, and should not be blamed for the campaign’s mistakes.

Detractors argue she should take responsibility, as deputy leader, for one of the worst defeats in the party’s history.

Ms Ley was a member of the group, know as the shadow expenditure revenue committee, which approved every major policy, according to a source familiar with the operation of Mr Dutton’s office.

She was present in the budget lockup on March 25 when Mr Dutton and Mr Taylor agreed to reverse the government’s income tax cut, a decision Treasurer Jim Chalmers used to attack the opposition throughout the campaign.

As a member of the Coalition’s leadership team, Ms Ley participated in daily phone meetings which decided on campaign tactics, the source said, including the decision to reverse a policy requiring public servants to return to their offices full time.

Close race

Both Liberal leadership candidates are from country New South Wales. Mr Taylor is supported by the right faction and Ms Ley by the left. About 55 Liberal MPs are expected to chose the leader next week.

One Liberal MP said the two candidates appeared to have similar levels of support, and a small number of MPs were undecided.

Another mooted contender, Victorian MP Dan Tehan, said on Friday morning he would not stand. The immigration spokesman did not indicate who he would support.

No one has publicly declared themselves a candidate for deputy, although Senator Jactina Napajinta Price’s decision to switch from the Nationals to the Liberal Party on Thursday triggered speculation she plans to stand as Mr Taylor’s deputy.

Other possible contenders are Ted O’Brien, Sarah Henderson and Melissa McIntosh.