The Honourable
Sussan Ley
MP
Ley in 2012
Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Assumed office
30 May 2022
LeaderPeter Dutton
Preceded byRichard Marles
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party
Assumed office
30 May 2022
LeaderPeter Dutton
Preceded byJosh Frydenberg
Shadow Minister for Women
Assumed office
5 June 2022
MinisterKaty Gallagher
LeaderPeter Dutton
Preceded byTanya Plibersek
Shadow Minister for Industry, Skills and Training
Assumed office
5 June 2022
MinisterEd Husic (as Minister for Industry and Science)
Brendan O'Connor (as Minister for Skills and Training)
LeaderPeter Dutton
Preceded byEd Husic
Shadow Minister for Small and Family Business
Assumed office
5 June 2022
MinisterJulie Collins (as Minister for Small Business)
LeaderPeter Dutton
Preceded byRichard Marles
Ministerial offices 2013–⁠2022
Minister for the Environment
In office
29 May 2019 – 23 May 2022
Prime MinisterScott Morrison
Preceded byMelissa Price
Succeeded byTanya Plibersek
Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories
In office
26 August 2018[1] – 26 May 2019
Prime MinisterScott Morrison
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byNola Marino
Minister for Health
In office
23 December 2014 – 13 January 2017
Prime MinisterTony Abbott
Malcolm Turnbull
Preceded byPeter Dutton
Succeeded byGreg Hunt
Minister for Sport
In office
23 December 2014 – 13 January 2017
Prime MinisterTony Abbott
Malcolm Turnbull
Preceded byPeter Dutton
Succeeded byGreg Hunt
Minister for Aged Care
In office
30 September 2015 – 13 January 2017
Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull
Preceded byChristian Porter
Succeeded byKen Wyatt
(as Assistant Minister for Health and Minister for Indigenous Health and Aged Care)
Assistant Minister for Education
In office
18 September 2013 – 23 December 2014
Prime MinisterTony Abbott
Preceded byKate Ellis
Succeeded bySimon Birmingham
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Farrer
Assumed office
10 November 2001
Preceded byTim Fischer
Personal details
Born
Susan Penelope Braybrooks

(1961-12-14) 14 December 1961
Kano, Federation of Nigeria
NationalityAustralian
Political partyLiberal
SpouseJohn Ley (m. 1987–2004)
Children3
Residence(s)Albury, New South Wales
Alma materLa Trobe University
University of New South Wales
Charles Sturt University
OccupationAircraft pilot, taxation officer
Websitesussanley.com

Sussan Penelope Ley (pron. /ˈsuːzən liː/, "Susan Lee";[2] née Susan Braybrooks; born 14 December 1961) is an Australian politician who has been deputy leader of the Liberal Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition since May 2022. She has been member of parliament (MP) for the New South Wales seat of Farrer since 2001 and was a cabinet minister in the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments.

Ley was born in Nigeria to English parents. She grew up in the UAE 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, New South Wales. Ley was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2001 federal election. She was a parliamentary secretary in the Howard government and became a senior opposition frontbencher following the government's defeat in 2007. In the Abbott and Turnbull governments, Ley held the ministerial portfolios of Assistant Minister for Education (2013–2014), Minister for Health (2014–2016), Sport (2014–2017), Aged Care (2015–2016), and Health and Aged Care (2016–2017). She resigned from the ministry in January 2017 following a controversy over her travel expense claims, but returned in August 2018 when Scott Morrison succeeded Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister. She subsequently served as Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories (2018–2019) and Minister for the Environment prior to the government's defeat at the 2022 federal election. In the 47th Australian Parliament, Ley represents the Opposition in the roles of Shadow Minister for Women, Industry, Skills and Training, as well as Small and Family Business.

Early years and background

Ley was born on 14 December 1961 in Kano, Kano State, Federation of Nigeria.[3] The daughter of English parents, her family moved to the United Arab Emirates when she was one year old, where her father worked as a British intelligence officer. Ley attended boarding school in England until she was 13, when her family migrated to Australia.[4] Her parents bought a hobby farm in Toowoomba, 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. She was educated at Campbell High School, Dickson College,[5] La Trobe University, the University of New South Wales and Charles Sturt University, and has master's degrees in taxation and accountancy. She changed her name from Susan to Sussan after reading about numerology.[6]

When Ley was 19 she enrolled in flight school and gained her commercial pilot's licence when she was 20. She has worked as a waitress and cleaner, and trained as an air traffic controller, but did not complete the course. She did become a commercial pilot, and was later a farmer and shearers' cook. She met John Ley while aerial stock-mustering in south-west Queensland. They married in 1987, settled on her husband's family farm in north-east Victoria, and had three children before their 2004 divorce.[7] Ley was Director of Technical Training at the Australian Taxation Office in Albury from 1995 to 2001 before entering politics.[8]

Politics

Ley joined the Liberal Party's Tallangatta branch in 1994.[3]

Government (2001–2007)

Ley was elected to the House of Representatives at the 2001 election, winning the New South Wales seat of Farrer for the Liberal Party following the retirement of former National Party leader and deputy prime minister Tim Fischer. At the time of her election she was living across the border in Old Tallangatta, Victoria, and had recently lost Liberal preselection for the Victorian seat of Indi to Sophie Mirabella. She campaigned in "a large caravan, brightly painted in Liberal blue", ultimately winning a narrow victory on preferences.[9]

In the Howard government, Ley was appointed Parliamentary Secretary (Children and Youth Affairs) in October 2004 and Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in January 2006.[3]

Opposition (2007–2013)

Ley in 2009 at the opening of a library in Jerilderie, New South Wales

Following the 2007 election, Ley was appointed Shadow Minister for Housing and Shadow Minister for Status of Women by Opposition Leader, Dr Brendan Nelson,[10] moving to Shadow Minister for Customs and Justice when Malcolm Turnbull became Opposition Leader in September 2008.[11]

When Tony Abbott became Opposition Leader in December 2009 she was given the portfolio of Shadow Assistant Treasurer[12] and was moved to Shadow Minister for Employment Participation and Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning after the 2010 election.[13]

Abbott and Turnbull governments (2013–2018)

In September 2013, following the Coalition's victory at the 2013 federal election, Ley was appointed Assistant Minister for Education in the Abbott government, with responsibility for childcare.[14] Following a ministerial reshuffle, she was promoted to cabinet in December 2014 as Minister for Health and Minister for Sport.[15][16][17][18] She was also made Minister for Aged Care in September 2015 following the replacement of Tony Abbott with Malcolm Turnbull.[19]

In January 2017, an examination of Ley's expenditure claims and travel entitlements revealed she had purchased an apartment on the Gold Coast, close to the business premises of her partner, for $795,000 while on official business in Queensland. Ley defended the purchase, saying her work in the Gold Coast was legitimate, that all travel had been within the rules for entitlements, and that the purchase of the apartment "was not planned nor anticipated"[20] (a claim which was widely derided).[21] On 8 January, Ley released a statement acknowledging that the purchase had changed the context of her travel, and undertaking to repay the government for the cost of the trip in question as well as three others.[22] The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Ley had made 27 taxpayer-funded trips to the Gold Coast in recent years.[23]

On 9 January 2017, Ley announced that she would stand aside from her ministerial portfolios until an investigation into her travel expenses was completed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. She announced that she would not be making her diaries public.[24] On 13 January 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that Ley had resigned from the ministry.[25] Greg Hunt was appointed as Ley's replacement as the Minister for Health and Sport, and Ken Wyatt was appointed Assistant Minister for Health and Minister for Indigenous Health and Aged Care,[26] both with effect from 24 January 2017.[27]

Morrison government (2018–2022)

During the 2018 Liberal leadership spills, Ley reportedly voted for Peter Dutton against Malcolm Turnbull in the first vote.[28] She subsequently signed the petition requesting to hold a further party meeting to determine the leadership of the Liberal party,[29] and again voted for Dutton against Scott Morrison in the second spill days later, which saw Morrison replace Turnbull as prime minister.[30]

On 26 August 2018, Ley was appointed Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories in the Morrison government.[3] In May 2019, following the party's victory at the 2019 election, she replaced Melissa Price as Minister for the Environment.[31]

Since 2020, Ley has been a member of the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, co-chaired by Sheikh Hasina and Mia Mottley.

In March 2022, Ley successfully appealed a Federal Court ruling that she had a "duty of care to children to consider climate change harm when approving coal mines".[32]

Also in March 2022, Ley approved a Coalition decision to scrap 176 out of 185 recovery plans designed to prevent the extinction of threatened species and habitats, including the Tasmanian devil. This was despite a government call for feedback, which received 6701 responses, all disagreeing with the proposed removal of the recovery plans.[33]

Opposition (2022–present)

Following the Coalition's defeat at the 2022 election, it was reported that Ley would be a candidate to replace Josh Frydenberg as deputy leader of the party, following his electoral defeat.[34] Ley was elected unopposed on 30 May 2022.[35]

In July 2022, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek accused former Environment Minister Sussan Ley of hiding a document that was handed to the coalition government in December 2021, ahead of the 2022 Australian federal election. The document outlined the poor and declining health of the Australian ecosystem. "It tells a story of crisis and decline in Australia's environment [and] of a decade of government inaction and wilful ignorance," Ms Plibersek said.[36][37]

In August 2022, ahead of the Jobs and Skills Summit of Australia, Sussan Ley falsely stated that no one in the world is making an electric ute.[38] "We know we're not going to have electric vehicles tomorrow," Ms Ley said. "And no one in the world is making an electric ute, by the way, and even if they were it would be unaffordable." . After commentators pointed out that electric utes were already in production, a spokesperson for Ms Ley said that Ms Ley meant that, "EV utes are not yet commercially available in Australia and even if EV utes arrived here overnight, cost-effective models — which invariably have lower distance ranges — are not yet suitable for practical use in rural and regional Australia."[39]

In March 2023, Ley dressed up as Tina Turner in Parliament to raise money for cancer.[40]

Political positions

In March 2021, The Sydney Morning Herald stated that Ley was a member of the centre-right faction of the Liberal Party.[41] However, in May 2022 ABC News reported that she was "not aligned with the conservative or moderate factions".[34] In April 2023, The Sydney Morning Herald stated that Ley was a member of the moderate faction of the Liberal Party.[42]

In 2011, Ley publicly supported the admission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations and was reported to be a member of the cross-party Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group.[43]

In May 2018 Ley introduced a private member's bill to ban the live export of sheep.[44][45]

In 2023 Ley supported the No vote in the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum.[46]

Ley identifies as a feminist.[47]

References

  1. ↑ "Current Ministry List: The 45th Parliament". Parliament of Australia.
  2. ↑ Climate Adaptation Summit (29 January 2021). "Sussan Ley (Australia) - message during #AdaptationSummit 2021 (Climate Adaptation Summit)". YouTube. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Hon Sussan Ley MP". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  4. ↑ "Sussan Ley – NSW Migration Heritage Centre". nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  5. ↑ "Sussan Ley (nee Braybrooks)". NSW Migration Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 21 September 2013. when I was at Dixon College
  6. ↑ Legge, Kate (21 February 2015). "Sussan Ley's next big challenge". The Australian.
  7. ↑ Hutchens, Garth (22 December 2014). "Sussan Ley: From punk rocker to health minister". The Age. Retrieved 22 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "About Sussan Ley". SussanLey.com.
  9. ↑ Bennett, Scott (19 March 2002). "Commonwealth Election 2001". Research Papers 2001–02. No. 11. Australian Parliamentary Library. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  10. ↑ "The 42nd Parliament – Shadow Ministry 6 December 2007 – 22 September 2008". Archived from the original on 24 November 2011.
  11. ↑ "The 42nd Parliament – Shadow Ministry 22 September 2008 – 23 January 2009". Archived from the original on 2 June 2011.
  12. ↑ "The 42nd Parliament – Shadow Ministry 8 December 2009 – 25 March 2010". Archived from the original on 24 November 2011.
  13. ↑ "The 43rd Parliament – Shadow Ministry 3 March 2011 -". Archived from the original on 7 December 2011.
  14. ↑ "First Abbott ministry announced". Australian Politics. 16 September 2013.
  15. ↑ "Cabinet reshuffle: Tony Abbott promotes Sussan Ley to Health, David Johnston axed". News.com.au. 21 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  16. ↑ Chung, Frank (21 December 2014). "The shape of things to come: New Health Minister Sussan Ley's 'slush fund' speech shows she has fight". News.com.au. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  17. ↑ Taylor, Lenore (21 December 2014). "Tony Abbott cabinet reshuffle moves Scott Morrison out of immigration". Guardian Australia. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  18. ↑ "Tony Abbott's revamped Ministry sworn in at Government House". news.com.au. News Corp Australia. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  19. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald, "Aged care: Health Minister Sussan Ley picks up extra portfolio", 30 September 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2015
  20. ↑ "Sussan Ley defends purchase of $800k unit on taxpayer-funded trip to Gold Coast". ABC News. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  21. ↑ "An expenses scandal claims an Australian minister". The Economist. 19 January 2017.
  22. ↑ "Sussan Ley agrees to partly pay back cost of trips to Gold Coast after apartment purchase". ABC News. 8 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  23. ↑ Knott, Matthew (9 January 2017). "Health Minister Sussan Ley stands aside pending probe over taxpayer-funded Gold Coast trips". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  24. ↑ "Sussan Ley stands aside pending travel expenses investigation". ABC News. 9 January 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  25. ↑ "Health Minister Sussan Ley resigns over expenses scandal". ABC News. 13 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
  26. ↑ "Greg Hunt announced as new Health Minister". ABC News. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  27. ↑ "New federal ministers officially sworn in". Australia: Sky News. AAP. 24 January 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  28. ↑ "Malcolm Turnbull v Peter Dutton: Who voted for whom? The full list". The Sydney Morning Herald. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  29. ↑ "Malcolm Turnbull asked to see who wanted him out – here are the Liberal MPs that signed on". 24 August 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  30. ↑ "How the party members voted in the Liberal leadership contest". The Sydney Morning Herald. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  31. ↑ Belot, political reporters Henry; Conifer, Dan (26 May 2019). "Scott Morrison stamps authority on Coalition with reshuffled Cabinet". ABC News.
  32. ↑ "Climate duty of care ruling overturned but lawfare to continue". Australian Financial Review. 16 March 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  33. ↑ Cox, Lisa (2 June 2022). "Coalition scrapped recovery plans for 176 threatened species and habitats in one of its final acts". Guardian Australia. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  34. 1 2 Norman, Jane (24 May 2022). "Peter Dutton remains only candidate for Liberal leader, Sussan Ley and Jane Hume frontrunners for deputy". ABC News. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  35. ↑ "Dutton replaces Scott Morrison at helm of Liberals with Sussan Ley elevated to deputy position". ABC News. 30 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  36. ↑ Slezak, Michael (19 July 2022). "Majority of Australia's environment in 'poor' state as Labor blames the Coalition for decade of 'inaction and wilful ignorance'". ABC News. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  37. ↑ Whiteman, Hilary (19 July 2022). "Australia's environment is 'poor and deteriorating' says damning new report". CNN. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  38. ↑ Roberts, Matt (30 August 2022). "Sussan Ley said no one in the world is making an electric ute. Is that correct?". ABC News. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  39. ↑ Elsworthy, Emma (29 August 2022). ""A monumental blunder": EV Council CEO rolls eyes after Shadow Small Business Minister claims electric utes don't exist". SmartCompany.
  40. ↑ "Sussan Ley introduces her alter ego 'Tina Ley-na Turner'". 7 March 2023.
  41. ↑ Massola, James (20 March 2021). "Who's who in the Liberals' left, right and centre factions?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  42. ↑ Massola, James. "How Morrison's shattering defeat gave Dutton a seismic shift in factional power". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  43. ↑ Flitton, Daniel (19 September 2011). "Group of MPs backs Palestinian bid for statehood". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  44. ↑ "Sussan Ley builds support to ban 'terminal' live sheep trade". Financial Review. 21 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  45. ↑ Karp, Paul (21 May 2018). "Coalition MPs introduce bill for ban on live exports, saying industry is not viable". Guardian Australia. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
  46. ↑ McIlroy, Tom (30 May 2023). "'Stop the moral blackmail' on the Voice: Sussan Ley". AFR.com. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
  47. ↑ Johnson, Carol. "Sussan Ley says she is listening to women who rejected the Liberals. But will she hear what they are saying?". The Conversation.
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