Sussan Ley | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Ley in 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 13 May 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Ted O'Brien | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Peter Dutton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16th Leader of the Liberal Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 13 May 2025[a] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Ted O'Brien | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Peter Dutton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 30 May 2022 – 13 May 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Peter Dutton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Richard Marles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Ted O'Brien | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 30 May 2022 – 13 May 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Peter Dutton Herself (acting) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Josh Frydenberg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Ted O'Brien | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of theAustralian Parliament forFarrer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 10 November 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Tim Fischer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Susan Penelope Braybrooks (1961-12-14)14 December 1961 (age 63) Kano, Nigeria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Liberal (since 1994) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence(s) | Albury,New South Wales, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | La Trobe University University of New South Wales Charles Sturt University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Aircraft pilot, taxation officer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | sussanley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sussan Penelope Ley (pron./ˈsuːzənˈliː/, "Susan Lee";[1]née Susan Penelope Braybrooks; born 14 December 1961) is an Australian politician who has served as theLeader of the Opposition andleader of the Liberal Party since May 2025, being the first woman to hold either role.[2] Prior to assuming the party leadership, she was theDeputy Leader of the Opposition and deputy leader of the Liberal Party. Ley served as acabinet minister in theAbbott,Turnbull andMorrison governments. She also served as aparliamentary secretary in the final term of theHoward government.
Ley was born in Nigeria to English parents and grew up in theTrucial States (now the United Arab Emirates) and England before moving to Australia as a teenager. Prior to entering politics, she worked as a commercial pilot, farmer and public servant based inAlbury, New South Wales. She was elected to theHouse of Representatives at the2001 federal election representing the regional New South Wales division ofFarrer.
In the Abbott and Turnbull governments, Ley held various ministerial portfolios includingHealth,Sport, andAged Care. She resigned from the ministry in January 2017 following a controversy over her travel expense claims, but returned in August 2018 whenScott Morrison succeededMalcolm Turnbull as prime minister. She subsequently served as Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories andMinister for the Environment prior to the government's defeat at the2022 federal election. Following the2025 federal election, Ley became the acting leader of the Liberal Party,[3][4] and won the subsequentLiberal leadership election to become leader of the Liberal Party and therefore Leader of the Opposition.[2]
Susan[5][6] Penelope Braybrooks was born the daughter of English parents, Edgar Hosken Braybrooks and Angela Mary Braybrooks née Weston,[7] on 14 December 1961 inKano,Northern Region,Federation of Nigeria.[8] Her family moved to theTrucial States (United Arab Emirates) when she was one year old, where her father worked as a British intelligence officer. They lived first inQatar, thenSharjah,Dubai,Abu Dhabi, and lastlyAl Ain. Her father worked with thesheikhs who ruled the states at that time.[9] Ley attended boarding school in England until she was 13 years old, when her family migrated to Australia.[10]
Her parents bought a hobby farm inToowoomba,Queensland, but quickly sold it due to a crash in beef prices. They then moved toCanberra, where her father worked for theAustralian Federal Police (AFP).[11] Ley attended Campbell High School andDickson College in Canberra for her secondary schooling.[11] Ley initially said she changed her name from Susan to Sussan after reading aboutnumerology[5] some time after leaving school,[12] although in a 2025 interview she said that, as a rebellious teenager, she added the extra "s" to annoy her family.[13]
After marrying and settling on her husband's family farm outsideTallangatta in north-eastVictoria and having three children, Ley started studying economics part-time atLa Trobe University. She then became employed at theAustralian Taxation Office atAlbury[9] as director of technical training from 1995 to 2001.[14] While working there, did a master's degree in tax law,[9] and, in 2000, a master of accountancy atCharles Sturt University.[15] Her grandfather was aChurch of England minister in England and she attended an Anglican church in Albury.[16] She has also worked as a commercial pilot and shearers' cook.[14]
Ley joined the Liberal Party'sTallangatta branch in 1994.[8] She was elected to the House of Representatives at the2001 election, winning the New South Wales seat ofFarrer for the Liberal Party following the retirement of formerNational Party leader and deputy prime ministerTim Fischer, beating the Nationals candidate by 206 votes. At the time of her election she was living across the border inOld Tallangatta, Victoria, and had recently lost Liberalpreselection for the Victorian seat ofIndi toSophie Mirabella. She campaigned in "a large caravan, brightly painted in Liberal blue".[17]
In the Howard government, Ley was appointed Parliamentary Secretary (Children and Youth Affairs) in October 2004 and Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in January 2006.[8]
Following the 2007 election, Ley was appointed Shadow Minister for Housing and Shadow Minister for Status of Women by Opposition Leader, DrBrendan Nelson,[18] moving to Shadow Minister for Customs and Justice whenMalcolm Turnbull became Opposition Leader in September 2008.[19]
WhenTony Abbott became Opposition Leader in December 2009 she was given the portfolio of Shadow Assistant Treasurer[20] and was moved to Shadow Minister for Employment Participation and Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning after the 2010 election.[21]
In September 2013, following the Coalition's victory at the2013 federal election, Ley was appointed Assistant Minister for Education in theAbbott government, with responsibility for childcare.[22] Following a ministerial reshuffle, she was promoted tocabinet in December 2014 as Minister for Health and Minister for Sport.[23][24][25][26] She was also made Minister for Aged Care in September 2015 following the replacement ofTony Abbott withMalcolm Turnbull.[27]
In January 2017, an examination of Ley's expenditure claims and travel entitlements revealed she had purchased an apartment on the Gold Coast, close to the business premises of her partner, for $795,000 while on official business in Queensland. Ley defended the purchase, saying her work in the Gold Coast was legitimate, that all travel had been within the rules for entitlements, and that the purchase of the apartment "was not planned nor anticipated"[28] (a claim which was widely derided).[29] On 8 January, Ley released a statement acknowledging that the purchase had changed the context of her travel, and undertaking to repay the government for the cost of the trip in question as well as three others.[30]The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Ley had made 27 taxpayer-funded trips to the Gold Coast in recent years.[31]
On 9 January 2017, Ley announced that she would stand aside from her ministerial portfolios until an investigation into her travel expenses was completed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. She announced that she would not be making her diaries public.[32] On 13 January 2017, Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull announced that Ley had resigned from the ministry.[33]Greg Hunt was appointed as Ley's replacement as the Minister for Health and Sport, andKen Wyatt was appointed Assistant Minister for Health and Minister for Indigenous Health and Aged Care,[34] both with effect from 24 January 2017.[35]
During the2018 Liberal leadership spills, Ley reportedly voted forPeter Dutton againstMalcolm Turnbull in the first vote.[36] She subsequently signed the petition requesting to hold a further party meeting to determine the leadership of the Liberal party,[37] and again voted for Dutton againstScott Morrison in the second spill days later, which saw Morrison replace Turnbull as prime minister.[38] On 26 August 2018, Ley was appointed Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories in theMorrison government.[8] In May 2019, following the party's victory at the2019 election, she replacedMelissa Price asMinister for the Environment.[39]
In March 2022, Ley successfully appealed aFederal Court ruling that she had a "duty of care to children to consider climate change harm when approving coal mines".[40] Also in March 2022, Ley approved a Coalition decision to scrap 176 out of 185 recovery plans designed to prevent the extinction of threatened species and habitats, including theTasmanian devil. This was despite a government call for feedback, which received 6701 responses, all disagreeing with the proposed removal of the recovery plans.[41]
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Following the Coalition's defeat at the2022 election, it was reported that Ley would be a candidate to replaceJosh Frydenberg as deputy leader of the party, following his electoral defeat.[42] Ley was elected unopposed on30 May 2022.[43] In July 2022, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek accused Ley, the former Environment Minister, of hiding a document that was handed to the coalition government in December 2021, ahead of the2022 Australian federal election. The document outlined the poor and declining health of the Australian ecosystem. "It tells a story of crisis and decline in Australia's environment [and] of a decade of government inaction and wilful ignorance," Ms Plibersek said.[44][45]
In August 2022, ahead of the Jobs and Skills Summit of Australia, Ley falsely stated that no one in the world is making an electric ute.[46] "We know we're not going to have electric vehicles tomorrow," Ms Ley said. "And no one in the world is making an electric ute, by the way, and even if they were it would be unaffordable." After commentators pointed out that electric utes were already in production, a spokesperson for Ms Ley said that Ms Ley meant that, "EV utes are not yet commercially available in Australia and even if EV utes arrived here overnight, cost-effective models — which invariably have lower distance ranges — are not yet suitable for practical use in rural and regional Australia."[47]
In March 2023, Ley dressed up asTina Turner in Parliament to raise money for cancer.[48] In February 2024, on the eve of the2024 Dunkley by-election, Ley posted atweet linking a crime incident inFrankston to "foreign criminals".[49]Victoria Police had charged an immigration detainee but later dropped the charges after a case of mistaken identity. Speaking after the police bungle was revealed, a spokesperson for Ms Ley told the ABC the deputy leader stood by her comments completely, suggesting it spoke to the broader issue of how the government had handled the release of the detainees into the community.[50] Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was "extraordinary" that Ley had refused to delete her tweet.[51]
Incumbent party leaderPeter Dutton lost re-election for his seat ofDickson at the2025 federal election,[52] making Ley the actingleader of the Liberal Party. She also became the longest-serving Coalition MP at the election.[3][4] Ley won thesubsequent party leadership election by 29 votes to 25, defeatingconservative opponentAngus Taylor.[2][53] Ley is the first woman elected to lead the Liberals, theCoalition, or serve as theLeader of the Opposition at the federal level in Australia.[2][54] At 63, Ley is also the oldest first-time Leader of the Opposition sinceArthur Calwell in 1960.[55]
On 20 May 2025, the federal Coalition was temporarily dissolved due to policy disagreements between the Liberal and National parties.[56] Eight days later, on 28 May, the Liberal and National parties reached an agreement to re-form the coalition.[57] Ley appointedher shadow cabinet that day which is made up of 16 Liberal and 5 Nationals members withTed O'Brien as the Deputy Leader and Shadow Treasurer.[58]
On 10 September 2025, Ley removedJacinta Nampijinpa Price from shadow cabinet after she refused to publicly support Ley's leadership.[59][60] ANewspoll conducted later that week indicated that the Coalition had fallen to its lowest level of support since its inception in 1985.[61]
On 3 October 2025,Andrew Hastie resigned from the shadow ministry, due to his disagreements with Ley on immigration policy, and his inability to comply with Ley's 'charter letters'.[62]
Ley is a member of themoderate faction of theLiberal Party,[54][5][63] withABC News stating that she had also been backed by the moderate faction in the leadership election where she was elected as a leader.[2] Ley identifies as a feminist,[64] and is arepublican. In a 2022 interview, she stated "the times change, and no matter how relevant the monarchy might have been, no matter how elegant, it's definitely neither relevant or elegant to my children ... and that view is widespread."[65] Ley voted forlegalising same-sex marriage in 2017.[66]
In 2011, Ley publicly supported the admission of thestate of Palestine to the United Nations and was reported to be a member of the cross-party Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group.[67] In October 2022, Ley travelled to Israel, leading a delegation on a trip organised byAIJAC, to reaffirm the Coalition's commitment toWest Jerusalem asthe nation’s capital and observe the impact of theAbraham Accords.[68] Ley said the accords and her visit had changed her view.[69] In June 2024, Ley criticised Labor's decision not to expelFatima Payman after Paymancrossed the floor to express support for Palestine, at which time Payman accused Israel of committinggenocide duringGaza war and using phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".[70] As opposition leader in August 2025, Ley stated she would reverse theAlbanese government's decision torecognise a Palestinian state should she win office.[71]
In May 2018, Ley introduced aprivate member's bill to ban the live export of sheep.[72][73] In 2023, Ley changed her position and stated her support for the sheep live export industry.[74] In 2023, Ley supported the No vote in the2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum.[75] Ley has voiced support forElon Musk and duringAustralia Day celebrations in 2025 was quoted as comparing the British colonisation of Australia to Musk's intendedcolonisation of Mars.[76] In 2024, Ley said she was "disappointed" in Musk and backed the eSafety commissionerJulie Inman Grant, "I'm for X obeying the law, and I'm not for the actions and the statements of our eSafety commissioner being ignored."[77]
Ley met John Ley while aerial stock-mustering in south-westQueensland. They married in 1987, settled on her husband's family farm in north-eastVictoria, and had three children before their 2004 divorce.[78] Ley has multiple grandchildren, residing on the NSW Central Coast.[79] Ley lives in Albury, and owns an investment property in Albury and one on theGold Coast.[80]
Ley isvegetarian.[16] She is a supporter of theSydney Swans Australian rules football club.[81] Ley's mother Angela Braybrooks died on 17 May 2025, four days after Ley's election as opposition leader.[82] She had been living in an aged care home inAlbury,New South Wales.[83]
when I was at Dixon College
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| Parliament of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member forFarrer 2001–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded byasMinister for Early Childhood, Childcare andYouth | Assistant Minister for Education 2013–2014 | Succeeded byas Assistant Minister for Education and Training |
| Preceded by | Minister for Health 2014–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Minister for Sport 2014–2017 | ||
| Preceded byasMinister for Social Services | Minister for Aged Care 2015–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for the Environment 2019–2022 | Succeeded byas Minister for the Environment and Water |
| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the Opposition 2022–2025 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Opposition 2025–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party 2022–2025 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Liberal Party 2025–present | Incumbent |
Prime Minister:Tony Abbott | ||
| Cabinet |  | |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Parliamentary Secretaries | ||
| Dismissed/resigned | ||
Prime Minister:Malcolm Turnbull | ||
| Cabinet |  | |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| Dismissed/resigned/lost seat | ||
Prime Minister:Malcolm Turnbull | ||
| Cabinet | | |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| Resigned | ||
Prime Minister:Scott Morrison | ||
| Cabinet |
|  |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| Resigned | ||
Prime Minister:Scott Morrison | ||
| Cabinet |  | |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| Dismissed/resigned | ||
