Sussan Ley

Sussan Penelope Ley (née Susan Penelope Braybrooks; born 14 December 1961) is an Australian retired politician who served as the leader of the Opposition and the leader of the Liberal Party from 2025 to 2026. She was the member of parliament (MP) for the New South Wales division of Farrer from 2001 to 2026. Ley previously held various ministerial positions in the Abbott, Turnbull, and Morrison governments.

Ley was born in Nigeria to English parents and grew up in the Trucial 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 in Albury. She was first elected to the House of Representatives for the regional New South Wales seat of Farrer at the 2001 federal election. Early in her political career, Ley was appointed parliamentary secretary in the Howard government, and held positions in the Nelson, Turnbull, and Abbott shadow ministries.

After the Liberal–National Coalition's victory at the 2013 election, Ley was appointed to various ministerial portfolios during the Abbott and Turnbull governments, including Health, Sport, and Aged Care. She resigned from the ministry in 2017 following a controversy regarding her travel expense claims, but returned in 2018 when Scott Morrison succeeded Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister. She then served as Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories and Minister for the Environment until the government's defeat at the 2022 federal election.

At a leadership election in 2022, she was elected deputy leader of the Liberal Party under Peter Dutton. Ley served as deputy leader until Dutton's defeat at the 2025 election, and was subsequently elected leader of the Liberal Party, becoming the leader of the Opposition. She held the position until being defeated by Angus Taylor in leadership spill in 2026. Ley was the first woman in Australian history to hold either leadership position. She has formally announced her intention to retire from politics, which will trigger a by-election in her electorate of Farrer.

During her tenure as leader of the Liberal Party, Ley presided over historical political conflicts, including two dissolutions of the Liberal–National Coalition—the first instances since 1987—historically low polling results for both the Liberal Party and the Coalition, and the Opposition's response to the legislative changes introduced by the Albanese government following the Bondi Beach shooting of gun law reform, strengthening of hate speech and antisemitism laws, and immigration measures.

Susan Penelope Braybrooks was born the daughter of English parents, Edgar Hosken Braybrooks and Angela Mary Braybrooks née Weston, on 14 December 1961 in Kano, Northern Region, Federation of Nigeria. Her family moved to the Trucial States (United Arab Emirates) when she was one year old, where her father worked as a British intelligence officer. They lived first in Qatar, then Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and lastly Al Ain. Her father worked with the sheikhs who ruled the states at that time. Ley attended boarding school in England until she was 13 years old, when her family migrated to Australia.

Ley's parents purchased a hobby farm in Toowoomba, Queensland, but quickly sold it due to a crash in beef prices. They then moved to Canberra, where her father worked for the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Ley attended Campbell High School and Dickson College in Canberra for her secondary schooling. Ley initially said she changed her name from Susan to Sussan after reading about numerology some time after leaving school, although in a 2025 interview she said that, as a rebellious teenager, she added the extra "s" to annoy her family.

After marrying and settling on her husband's family farm outside Tallangatta in north-east Victoria and having three children, Ley started studying economics part-time at La Trobe University. She then became employed at the Australian Taxation Office at Albury as director of technical training from 1995 to 2001. While working there, she did a master's degree in tax law, and, in 2000, a master of accountancy at Charles Sturt University. Her grandfather was a Church of England minister in England and she attended an Anglican church in Albury. She has also worked as a commercial pilot and shearers' cook.