Three years ago this month, Sussan Ley stood beside Peter Dutton as his deputy, the newly installed pair projecting confidence about the contest ahead.

Ley backed Dutton enthusiastically. But now, in 2025, she faces the public as the Coalition’s new leader after voters rejected the Dutton-Ley project and handed the Liberals its worst defeat on record.

The task before Ley is threefold: unite the Coalition, reset its policy platform, and win back the city women and younger voters who deserted the Liberal Party.

Today, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper Karen Barlow, on Sussan Ley’s uphill battle to rebuild the Coalition.

 

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Guest: Chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Karen Barlow

Photo: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

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