Australia news live: Sussan Ley to be Liberal party’s first female leader after narrowly defeating Angus Taylor
Sussan Ley wins vote for Liberal leadership
Sussan Ley has won the leadership of the Liberal party, defeating Angus Taylor. She will be the first female leader in the position.
More to come.
Key events
Sussan Ley has emerged from the party room flanked by her new deputy. She was all smiles as she slipped past the media scrum, telling journalists she would hold a press conference later today.
We will of course, bring you that when it is on.
Going back to Government House for a hot second, where the new Labor ministry is being sworn in, new Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has again brought his massive family bible.
It’s old and it’s big and it was purchased in 1880 by his great-grandfather, who then migrated to Australia.
Last time, on X he said:
There’s been some interest in the really large old Bible I was sworn in on today as Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for the Arts. Dad’s grandfather came to Tumut from Ireland after the famine and bought it on 28 March 1880.
Here’s a picture from earlier:
Ted O’Brien wins Liberal deputy leadership
And Queensland MP Ted O’Brien has won the deputy-leader position in the Liberals, getting 38 votes against fellow Queenslander Phil Thompson, who won 16.
We are just waiting to hear about the deputy vote, which is happening now.
Sussan Ley defeats Angus Taylor for leadership 29 votes to 25
Krishani Dhanji
Sussan Ley has become Australia’s first female opposition leader and the first woman to lead the Liberal party, beating Angus Taylor in the race for the Liberal leadership.
She won against Taylor 29 votes to 25.
Sussan Ley wins vote for Liberal leadership
Sussan Ley has won the leadership of the Liberal party, defeating Angus Taylor. She will be the first female leader in the position.
More to come.
Liberals voting on new leadership
The Liberal party is voting right now for the leadership – we will bring you the news on the new leader as soon as we have it.
Krishani Dhanji
Liberal doorstop shows MPs still making up their minds on next party leader
Liberal MPs and senators have arrived at parliament this morning to vote for their new leader, but not before journalists tried to bounce them at the doors to get them to reveal who they’d vote for.
Backbencher Alex Hawke said many Liberals would still be deciding who to vote for and said he would have a “few more conversations” with colleagues this morning before the vote:
We’ve got two very good choices … I think Angus Taylor of course is a great leader, I think he’s been a great treasurer, he’s got a really good chance, and I also think Sussan Ley has got some really good claims as well as our deputy leader.
I’m going to think about it, I’ve got a few more conversations to have with colleagues, I think you’ll find most people are still mulling over the choice … I think what we’ve lacked in the last few years is a real competitive process.
Dan Tehan, who dealt himself out of the leadership race, wouldn’t say which way he thought the ballot would go, telling journalists to “enjoy our day”.
Conservative MP Garth Hamilton meanwhile said his vote would be going to Angus Taylor, who’s running with Jacinta Price.
Through the lens: more swearing in
The new ministers have started to arrive with their families for the ceremony. Here we have the aged care minister, Sam Rae:
And we’ve got Mark Butler, the health minister, holding his son:
And here is the deputy PM, Richard Marles, coming through the doors of Government House. You can’t quite see in this pic but his son, 29-year-old Sam Marles – a pro MMA fighter – is coming up the rear.
Through the lens: the swearing in
And we’ve got some pics of the swearing-in ceremony this morning.
Here is the PM arriving at Government House:
And here he is being sworn in, with his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, and son, Nathan, watching on:
And we’ve got Penny Wong rocking up in Labor red with her daughter to be sworn in:
