Sussan Ley has announced she will run for the Liberal Party leadership, and candidly admitted that the party had failed women during the election campaign.
In her first interview since the Coalition’s crushing election defeat, Ley confirmed she will run for Liberal Party leadership when MPs meet in Canberra on Tuesday morning. If she is successful she will be the party’s first ever female leader.
Sunrise host Nat Barr asked the former pilot and taxation officer if she had the numbers to beat tipped frontrunner Angus Taylor – who has linked up with Jacinta Nampijinpa Price – and Ley said she was optimistic.
‘We have great talent … and I welcome nominations across that party room,’ the Member for Farrer said.
Barr also confronted Ley, 63, about the party’s poor performance with female voters at the polls.
‘You were the most senior woman there … why didn’t you get more women voting for you in this last election?’
Ley admitted the Coalition got it wrong by not focusing more on policies that would benefit female voters, who outnumber males.
‘We did let the women of Australia down,’ she said.
Sunrise host Nat Barr asked Sussan Ley – who revealed she wants to be Liberal Party leader – why it did not get more women voting for them
Ley said it was ‘part of the conversations’ that she had been having since Saturday and that she would ‘continue’ to have.
‘We have to understand why people didn’t support us, that they weren’t inspired by our policy offerings and that they didn’t believe we were the best choice to lead the country forward.
‘It’s about having the conversations that I have described, it’s about making sure that I am listening to my colleagues and to demonstrate to them we want a strong approach that includes everyone.
‘I want to harness all of the talent in my team, take it forward under my leadership and meet the Australian people, because clearly we didn’t do that at the last election.
‘We do need to reflect a modern Liberal Party.’
Barr asked Ley if she was aware of the term ‘the glass cliff’.
‘For everyone at home that term means a woman is given a senior position where the risk of failure is high. It is pretty, probably, common knowledge that your party has a woman problem.
‘Is that what’s happening here? They’re putting you in to clean up the mess?’
Ley responded, saying: ‘I’m putting my hand up, Nat. 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.
‘We can win the next election. And this is a moment to look forward and bring the Australian people with us on this journey.’
Ley is being backed by Alex Hawke who was instrumental in Scott Morrison securing the party’s leadership and served as Immigration Minister under him.
THIS IS A BREAKING STORY… MORE TO COME
