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13 May 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||
52 caucus members of the Liberal Party 27 caucus votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||
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Leadership election | |||||||||||||||||||
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Deputy leadership election | |||||||||||||||||||
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The 2025 Liberal Party of Australia leadership election was held on 13 May 2025 to elect the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and, ex officio, Leader of the Opposition. The election took place after Peter Dutton lost his seat of Dickson at the 2025 federal election. [2] The ballot was won by then-deputy leader Sussan Ley, who became the first female leader of the Liberal Party. [3]
Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor stated in advance that they would contest the leadership. [4] [5] Country Liberal Northern Territory senator Jacinta Price previously announced her intention to contest the deputy leadership as Taylor's deputy after changing her federal affiliation from the National Party, but did not run after Taylor lost the leadership ballot to Ley. [6] [7]
The last Liberal Party leadership election was held on 30 May 2022, a week after then-leader and prime minister Scott Morrison led the party to defeat at the 2022 federal election against the Australian Labor Party led by Anthony Albanese after three terms in government, and subsequently resigned as Prime Minister and Liberal leader. [8] [9] Incumbent deputy leader and treasurer Josh Frydenberg lost his seat of Kooyong to teal independent candidate Monique Ryan, [10] making him ineligible to contest the deputy leadership election. The leadership election was won unopposed by Peter Dutton, the outgoing leader of the house, while the deputy leadership election was won by Sussan Ley, the outgoing Minister for the Environment, also unopposed. [11]
Initial predictions for the 2025 federal election had Dutton poised to lead the Liberal–National Coalition to victory after one term in opposition, [12] with the Coalition having taken the lead over Labor in November 2024. [13] From March 2025, Dutton's lead in the polls began to reverse, [14] largely attributed to the unpopularity of the second Trump administration in the United States; [15] the Coalition's campaign rhetoric somewhat mirrored Trump's campaign in 2024, in particular calling for asylum seekers to be detained offshore, cuts to the public sector workforce, and antagonism towards China. [16]
In the 2025 federal election, Dutton led the Coalition to a second consecutive defeat, with Labor increasing their majority, [17] with the Coalition recording their lowest seat share since 1946, the first election contested by the Liberal Party since their rebranding from the United Australia Party the year prior. [18]
| Candidate | Electorate | Faction | Announced | Portfolio(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sussan Ley [19] | Farrer (NSW) | Moderate/Centre-Right [1] | 9 May 2025 [20] |
| |
| | Angus Taylor [21] | Hume (NSW) | National Right [22] | 8 May 2025 [23] |
| |
| Candidate | Electorate | Faction | Portfolio(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Ted O'Brien [28] | Fairfax (Qld) | Unaligned [1] |
| |
| | Phillip Thompson | Herbert (Qld) | National Right [1] | ||
| Candidate | Electorate | Withdrew | Faction | Portfolio(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Jacinta Price [7] | Senator for the Northern Territory | 13 May 2025 | National Right [1] |
| |
| Candidate | Electorate | Faction | Portfolio(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | Sarah Henderson [29] | Senator for Victoria | National Right [1] | ||
| | Melissa McIntosh [29] | Lindsay (NSW) | Centre Right [1] |
| |
| | Dan Tehan | Wannon (Vic) | Centrist [1] |
| |
On 12 May 2025 (one day before the leadership vote), a document that had circulated within the Liberal Party was published by The Nightly , featuring the reported voting intentions of federal Liberal members. [30] The document showed Ley with the support of 21 members and Taylor with the support of 28 (including Linda Reynolds, who publicly endorsed Ley), while three members were uncommitted. [30] The actual vote saw Ley defeat Taylor 29 votes to 25. [30]
Federal Liberal members
Former federal Liberal members
Former heads of government
Other politicians
Federal Liberal members
Former heads of government
Former federal Liberal members
| [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] | Sussan Ley (29) | Angus Taylor (25) | Unknown | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| House of Representatives | NSW | Sussan Ley , Gisele Kapterian, Julian Leeser, Melissa McIntosh, Dave Sharma | Angus Taylor , Simon Kennedy | |
| VIC | Mary Aldred, Dan Tehan, Tim Wilson, Zoe McKenzie | Aaron Violi | Jason Wood | |
| QLD | Angie Bell, Leon Rebello | Garth Hamilton, Ted O'Brien, Henry Pike, Phillip Thompson, Andrew Wallace | Scott Buchholz, Cameron Caldwell | |
| WA | — | Andrew Hastie, Ben Small, Rick Wilson | Melissa Price | |
| SA | Tom Venning | Tony Pasin | ||
| Senate | NSW | Andrew Bragg, Alex Hawke, Hollie Hughes, Maria Kovacic, Andrew McLachlan | — | |
| VIC | Jane Hume | Sarah Henderson | ||
| QLD | — | James McGrath | Paul Scarr | |
| WA | Dean Smith | Slade Brockman, Michaelia Cash, Matt O'Sullivan | Linda Reynolds | |
| SA | Anne Ruston | Alex Antic, Leah Blyth, Kerrynne Liddle | David Fawcett | |
| TAS | Richard Colbeck | Wendy Askew, Claire Chandler, Jonathon Duniam | ||
| NT | — | Jacinta Price | ||
Terry Young, House of Representatives MP for Longman (Queensland), did not vote. [45] Gisele Kapterian was thought to have won the seat of Bradfield (New South Wales) but was declared not elected after a recount. Senators Hollie Hughes and Linda Reynolds remained members of the Liberal party room until their Senate terms expired on 30 June.
Newly re-elected Goldstein MP Tim Wilson tested support for a leadership tilt for the past two days but on Monday night declared he would not run after telling colleagues the contest was too early for him.
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