Ley’s farewell sets up Farrer shootout
Sussan Ley’s retirement sets up a four-way conservative brawl in her former seat of Farrer, exposing Coalition fractures and testing One Nation’s surge.
New leaders are rarely sad to see their deposed rivals make a beeline for the exit. But Liberal leader Angus Taylor may watch Sussan Ley’s departure with a hint of trepidation.
The former leader resigned with immediate effect this morning, formally bringing an end to a career spanning more than two decades, and will not return to parliament for a valedictory speech next week.
Her exit, however graceful, will prompt a by-election that is likely to expose the very ruptures in conservative politics that made her leadership untenable.
It could also force Taylor, early in his leadership, to explain the loss of a seat his party has held for two decades.
