Sussan Ley has been a camp cook, pilot and air traffic controller, tax officer, and a rural Liberal politician who traverses her vast electorate in a Cessna 182. A résumé so broad suggests a high degree of competence and flexibility. But wrangling the Liberal Party’s fractious factions may be beyond her.
The opposition leader and first woman to lead the Liberal Party at a federal level is widely expected to last only days to weeks in the role. Shortening her expected tenure is West Australian parliamentarian Andrew Hastie, who bowed out of the leadership race, giving the conservatives in the Liberal caucus a clear leadership choice in Angus Taylor. Adding pressure is the Liberal Party vote share, which has declined to uncharted depths amid a loss of support to One Nation and the teal independents.
