Sussan Ley becomes first female leader of the Federal Liberal Party after ballot

Liberals are calling for their depleted party room to unite around Sussan Ley after she made history to become the party’s first female leader.

Ms Ley defeated Angus Taylor 29 votes to 25 in a ballot of MPs in Canberra on Tuesday, replacing Peter Dutton as Opposition Leader after he lost his seat of Dickson at the May 3 election.

The 63-year-old had been the party’s deputy leader for the past three years and previously served as minister for health, aged care and environment after a career as a pilot, air traffic controller, shearers’ cook, farmer and public servant.

Despite the close vote and the monumental task ahead to rebuild the party, she vowed to still be at the helm by the time of the next Federal election in three years’ time, rejecting any suggestion she was a “caretaker” leader or a woman atop a glass cliff.

Many female voters and younger voters abandoned the Liberals on May 3, and Ms Ley acknowledged there was much work to do to get people to consider the party again.

“We listened to the Australian people on Saturday, and we will continue to listen to them around the country,” she said.

“We have to have a Liberal Party that respects modern Australia, that reflects modern Australia, and that represents modern Australia. And we have to meet the people where they are.”

Melissa McIntosh, a Liberal from the western Sydney seat of Lindsay, said there was no denying that as a female MP, she felt hope and optimism about now appealing to the voters lost at the last election.

“We need to look at our party structures around ensuring that women are encouraged into the Liberal Party, that they are supported as candidates and that as members of Parliament, that they are secure in their job,” she told The West Australian.

Another Liberal said the party’s “woman challenge” was real, but the answer wasn’t just having more female MPs, it was “creating a narrative that appeals to working women and young families”.

Seven years ago the Liberals had a chance to choose a highly popular, well-known woman as their leader and didn’t. Julie Bishop’s retort to whether her colleagues ever would was: “Well, when we find one, I’m sure they will.”

The WA Liberal luminary offered her “warmest congratulations” to Ms Ley on Tuesday.

“It is an honour that brings great responsibility and Sussan will bring her boundless energy and determination to meet the challenges ahead. I wish her every success,” Ms Bishop told The West.

Ms Ley acknowledged she bore some of the responsibility for the Liberals’ worst-ever election loss as part of the previous leadership team.

She promised no more captain’s calls and pledged an inclusive policy process that harnessed the talents of everyone in the party room, including an “integral role” for Mr Taylor — addressing key internal criticisms of how Mr Dutton ran the show.

She intends to hold a comprehensive review of the party’s policies to run alongside a post-mortem of the election campaign by the party headquarters.

That approach left her talking awkwardly around some of the party’s more controversial policies, including nuclear power and its ongoing internal division over the pursuit of net zero emissions, although she declared “there isn’t going to be a climate war” on her watch.

“Unsurprisingly, in our party, there are many different views, and we will listen and we will take the positions that we need to at the appropriate time,” Ms Ley said.

Mr Taylor said Ms Ley’s election was a milestone for her and the party and called on colleagues to unify.

“The Liberal Party has a proud history and I firmly believe in its future,” he said.

“I will contribute the best way I can to help get us back in the fight.”

His call was echoed by multiple colleagues from both camps within the party room.

“One thing the Australian people will not cop is a disunified Opposition, and we now to need to now unite and and rebuild,” former speaker Andrew Wallace said.

Andrew Bragg, a leading moderate, pointed out that the party had given Mr Dutton “a very clean run” and he expected the same for Ms Ley.

Ahead of the vote, senator James McGrath wrote to all his colleagues warning that “before things get worse, they can always get worse”.

“Everyone needs to accept we are all in this together and we need to work as a team to rebuild an election-winning Party,” he wrote.

“Stop playing games. We are a political party not the toy section of Big W.”

Aaron Violi said that pursuit of unity was up to everyone in the party.

As a younger MP, he wanted to have a “positive voice” going forward, saying the need for everyone to continue to have a say was one of the key lessons from the election loss.

“There is a lot of talent, there is a lot of experience, there are new ideas, new faces in the party room. Everyone needs to be constructively contributing to how we go forward,” he said.

A Liberal source said there was no doubt everyone in the party would now be watching very closely at who was pulling their weight and not just doing the work but performing successfully.

Ted O’Brien was elected as Ms Ley’s deputy in a 38-16 contest against Phil Thompson.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who last week defected from the Nationals to run on a ticket with Mr Taylor, did not end up contesting the ballot for deputy.

In a statement afterwards, she said she chose not to stand after Mr Taylor lost and committed to working with the new leadership to build a “formidable Opposition” while acknowledging the outcome was not the one she wanted.

WA senator Michaelia Cash was returned as the Opposition’s leader in the Senate, with Anne Ruston continuing as her deputy.