Ley shadow ministry | |
|---|---|
 Shadow cabinet of Australia | |
.jpg) Sussan Ley | |
| Date formed | 28 May 2025 |
| Date dissolved | 13 February 2026 |
| People and organisations | |
| Opposition Leader | Sussan Ley |
| Deputy Opposition Leader | Ted O'Brien |
| Totalno. of members | 32 |
| Member parties | Liberal National (28 May 2025–21 Jan 2026; 8 Feb 2026–13 Feb 2026) |
| Status in legislature | Opposition |
| History | |
| Election | 2025 |
| Legislature term | 48th |
| Predecessor | Dutton shadow ministry |
| Successor | Taylor shadow ministry |
Theshadow ministry of Sussan Ley was theshadow ministry from 2025 to 2026, in opposition to theAlbanese government. The shadow ministry was theOpposition's alternative to theAlbanese ministry, which was sworn in on 13 May 2025.[1] The shadow ministry was first appointed bySussan Ley followingher election as leader of theLiberal Party andleader of the opposition on 13 May 2025, and came to an end in the2026 Liberal Party leadership spill on 13 February 2026.[2]
During Ley's tenure as Opposition Leader, the longstandingCoalition arrangement between the Liberal andNational parties briefly split twice, with implications for the shadow ministry. National Party leaderDavid Littleproud, who survived a leadership challenge on 12 May 2025,[3] first announced that the Nationals would leave the Coalition on 20 May 2025,[4] but the two parties reformed the Coalition eight days later, before any shadow cabinet reshuffle.[5][6]
On 22 January 2026, Littleproud again announced that the Nationals would leave the Coalition, leaving Ley to announce a new "acting arrangement" for a Liberal-only shadow cabinet on 30 January.[7] While the parties again reformed the Coalition on 8 February, one of the conditions of this reunion was that the National Party's former frontbenchers would remain suspended from the Coalition shadow cabinet until March 2026, with the partial exception of Littleproud and Nationals deputy leaderKevin Hogan, who resumed attendance at shadow cabinet meetings but did not formally regain their shadow portfolios.[8][9]
On 11 and 12 February 2026, a total of eleven Liberal Party frontbenchers resigned from the Ley shadow ministry, with Shadow Defence MinisterAngus Taylor being the first to resign. The shadow ministry ended on 13 February 2026, when Taylorsuccessfully challenged Ley for leadership of the Liberal Party.[10]
On 20 January 2026, National Party shadow ministers and senatorsBridget McKenzie,Ross Cadell andSusan McDonald crossed the floor and voted against the government's proposed hate speech laws. The Coalition shadow cabinet had decided earlier that week to support the proposed legislation, but the National Party room only decided to oppose it just 20 minutes prior to the Senate vote. As shadow ministers were bound to follow shadow cabinet's decision by convention, the actions of the three shadow ministers "did not maintainshadow cabinet solidarity".
As a result, the following day (21 January 2026), the three offered their resignations from the shadow ministry, which were accepted by Ley.[11] Following the resignations of the three senators, the eight remaining National Party colleagues in the shadow ministry, including Littleproud himself, also announced their resignations that evening "in solidarity" with the three senators.[7] Ley then rejected the additional resignations and had urged Littleproud to reconsider. It was also reported that a split in the Coalition may be possible, even though at that time Littleproud had not indicated that the Nationals were leaving the Coalition.[12]
On 22 January 2026, Littleproud confirmed that the Nationals would be leaving the coalition for the second time in a year.[13] The split in the Coalition and resignation of National Party members would have resulted in a reshuffle of the shadow ministry.
On 30 January 2026, Ley announced a new 'acting arrangement' of the shadow cabinet, which would be temporary until 9 February 2026, where it would then be finalised in another shadow cabinet meeting if the Liberal-National Coalition has not reconciled. If the Coalition did not reconcile, then around 6 other Liberal MPs would be added to the then-formalised shadow ministry, who would have the shadow portfolios that the National's would've otherwise had held.[14]
On 8 February 2026, Ley and Littleproud announced that both of them had reached a compromise and agreed to reunite the Coalition. As part of the renewed Coalition agreement, both parties had also agreed that shadow cabinet decisions could not be overturned by neither individual party, but instead could only be overturned by a joint Coalition party room.[15] The acting arrangement would also continue until 1 March 2026, when all eleven former National frontbenchers (who had resigned in January 2026) would rejoin the shadow ministry and have their shadow portfolios reinstated. However, until then, the National Party leader and deputy leader (Littleproud andKevin Hogan) would also attend shadow cabinet meetings (without their portfolios), "to ensure joint representation and accountability in decision-making during this interim period". Their portfolios would be reinstated with the other National frontbenchers on 1 March.[16] In the parliamentary week after the announcement, there was debate in the parliament whether Littleproud and Hogan were considered to be in the shadow cabinet. It was ruled by theSpeaker of the HouseMilton Dick, under the advice by Ley, that by the nature of their positions, both members were members of the shadow executive.[17]
Before the acting arrangement could end on 1 March, on 11 February 2026,Angus Taylor announced he would not support Ley as leader and resigned from the shadow cabinet accordingly.[18] On 12 February, ten others resigned from the frontbench. They were, in the chronological order of resignations,Claire Chandler,Matt O'Sullivan,Phillip Thompson,Jonathon Duniam,James Paterson,Leah Blyth,James McGrath,Michaelia Cash,Dan Tehan andDean Smith.[19][20] Ley was replaced by Taylor in a subsequent spill on 13 February.
There were no changes to portfolios held by Liberal Party frontbenchers in the shadow outer ministry and shadow assistant ministry during the acting period.
The first arrangement of the shadow ministry was announced by Ley and Littleproud on 28 May 2025.[40][41] Due to the changes in the Liberal Party leadership and a few Coalition frontbenchers losing their seats at the 2025 federal election, portfolios were significantly reshuffled from the previousDutton shadow ministry.[42]
The Liberal Party droppedSarah Henderson,Jane Hume,Claire Chandler andTony Pasin from the frontbench, while the National Party droppedMichael McCormack andBarnaby Joyce from the frontbench. All six were shadow ministers in the previous shadow ministry.[42]Rick Wilson (Liberal), who was an assistant shadow minister in the previous shadow ministry, was also not re-appointed to the shadow ministry. Nationals MPMichelle Landry, who was a shadow assistant minister in the previous shadow ministry, had been recently appointed as her party's Chief Whip and was therefore also not re-appointed to the shadow ministry.[43] Nationals senatorMatt Canavan, who was last on the Coalition frontbench in 2020 (as a government minister) and had challenged Littleproud for leadership after the election, was not appointed to the frontbench.[42]
James McGrath (Liberal),Andrew Bragg (Liberal),Kerrynne Liddle (Liberal),Angie Bell (Liberal) andDarren Chester (National), all of who were in the previous shadow ministry but not in the shadow cabinet, had been elevated to the latter. Liberal MPJulian Leeser, who was an shadow assistant minister prior to the election, also returned to the shadow cabinet since his resignation in April 2023.Tim Wilson (Liberal) andRoss Cadell (National), who were not in the previous shadow ministry, were also elevated directly into the shadow cabinet.Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who was a shadow cabinet minister in the previous ministry and had defected from the National Party to Liberal Party after the election, was not re-appointed to the shadow cabinet. Instead, she was appointed as a shadow minister in the shadow outer ministry.[42]
Two former cabinet ministers (before 2022) who were not in the previous shadow ministry,Alex Hawke andMelissa Price (both Liberal), were also re-appointed to the front bench, with Hawke being a shadow cabinet minister and Melissa Price being a shadow minister in the shadow outer ministry.[42]
Some members of parliament were also newly appointed to positions in the shadow assistant ministry. Two of them,Maria Kovacic andLeah Blyth, entered parliament between the 2022 and 2025 elections, with Blyth being a Senator for only less than four months prior to her appointment as a shadow assistant minister.Jamie Chaffey, who entered parliament in the 2025 election, was also appointed to the shadow assistant ministry. Gisele Kapterian was provisionally appointed as a shadow assistant minister pending the outcome of the vote recount (and subsequentlyCourt of Disputed Returns) inDivision of Bradfield, where she was contesting.[42] The provisional appointment of Kapterian to the shadow assistant ministry was still upheld by Ley during a reshuffle in September 2025.[44] Kapterian would later abandon the recount challenge later that month.[45]
On 10 September 2025, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was forced to resign from the ministry at the request of Ley, over the former's refusal to express confidence of the latter as party leader.[46] On 14 September 2025, Ley announced a reshuffle of the shadow ministry as a result of Price's resignation, withMelissa Price taking over Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's portfolios.Simon Kennedy andClaire Chandler were also elevated to the frontbench, with Chandler returning to the frontbench since being dropped after the election. Chandler took over Melissa Price's portfolios, while Kennedy was allocated a new shadow assistant ministerial role for artificial intelligence, digital economy and scrutiny of government waste.[47][44]
On 3 October 2025,Andrew Hastie resigned from the ministry, due to his disagreements withSussan Ley on immigration policy, and his inability to comply with Ley's 'charter letters'.[48] On 13 October 2025, Ley announced the third shadow ministry reshuffle in five months.Jonathon Duniam replaced Hastie as the shadow home affairs minister.Julian Leeser replaced Duniam as shadow education and early education minister, while retaining the arts portfolio.Andrew Wallace was elevated from the shadow assistant ministry to the shadow cabinet and replaced Leeser as shadow attorney-general.Zoe McKenzie replaced Wallace as shadow cabinet secretary while retaining her existing assistant shadow ministry portfolios.Aaron Violi andCameron Caldwell were elevated to the frontbench and were appointed shadow assistant minister for communications and shadow assistant minister for housing and mental health respectively.[49]
The arrangement lasted until 21 January 2026 with the mass resignation of National Party members from the frontbench.
| Party | Shadow Minister | Portrait | Offices | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Zoe McKenzie (born 1972) |
| [82] | ||
| Maria Kovacic (born 1970) Senator forNew South Wales | .png) |
| [83] | ||
| Dave Sharma (born 1975) Senator forNew South Wales | .jpg) | [84] | |||
| Matt O'Sullivan (born 1978) Senator forWestern Australia |  | [85] | |||
| Dean Smith (born 1969) Senator forWestern Australia |  | [86] | |||
| Liberal(LNP) | Phillip Thompson (born 1988) | .jpg) | [87] | ||
| National(LNP) | Andrew Willcox (born 1969) | .jpg) |
| [88] | |
| Liberal | Leah Blyth Senator forSouth Australia |
| [89] | ||
| National | Jamie Chaffey | [90] | |||
| Sam Birrell (1975–) | [91] | ||||
| Liberal | Simon Kennedy (born 1982) |
| [92] | ||
| Aaron Violi (born 1984) |
| [93] | |||
| Liberal(LNP) | Cameron Caldwell (born 1979) |
| [94] | ||
| Provisionally appointed but never finalised | |||||
| Liberal | Gisele Kapterian | Provisionally appointed pending recount challenge ofBradfield, | |||
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