Sussan Ley surpasses Downer’s mark as Liberal leader but faces fresh revolt

Sussan Ley this week passed eight months and eight days as leader of the Liberal party, a span that meant she has now lasted longer in the role than Alexander Downer did as the party’s shortest-serving leader. Her tenure has unfolded amid party room meetings and tense negotiations with Anthony Albanese over Labor’s hate speech bill.

Ley had already faced rumblings of a leadership challenge late in 2025 and won some respect for criticising Albanese’s response to the December Bondi beach terror attack, pressing for a federal royal commission and claiming credit when he later backflipped. But the fallout from three Nationals senators crossing the floor on Wednesday has been described as the beginning of the end for the country’s first female opposition leader, and many in her party now consider her on borrowed time.

Nationals leader David Littleproud said the Coalition agreement was “untenable” with Ley as leader after she accepted the resignations of frontbenchers Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald and Ross Cadell, a remark that some Liberals say may have bought her a little time during the national day of mourning for the 15 people killed at Bondi beach.

MPs are not scheduled to return to Canberra until 3 February, which may allow Ley to reshuffle her frontbench and present a Liberal-only opposition when parliament reopens.

Key Topics

Politics, Sussan Ley, Liberal Party, David Littleproud, Anthony Albanese, Bondi Beach