Australian news and politics live: Leadership spill confirmed, Sussan Ley, Angus Taylor to go head-to-head

Liberal Senator James Paterson has held a press conference to explain his resignation from Sussan Ley’s front bench amid a challenge from Angus Taylor.

He is just one of a number of prominent frontbenchers resigning as the party now waits for Ms Ley to call on a party room meeting.

Senator Paterson referred to dire polling under Ms Ley, saying the party had lost 200,000 voters a month and split to the lowest point since the more than two-decades of Newspoll.

“Sussan is a decent person. She is a good Liberal. She has been dealt many tough hands in the last nine months,” he said.

“But I no longer have confidence in her ability… to get our party back on track, before the next election.

“And as a result of that, I had to resign my position in the shadow ministry to tell her that I am supporting a spill motion.

“I will vote for Angus Taylor. He’s a man of deep conviction, values and most importantly, Angus understands that this is a change or die moment for the Liberal Party.”

Conservative leadership aspirant Angus Taylor was elected to the New South Wales seat of Hume in 2013.

Before his resignation from the shadow ministry on Wednesday evening, he held the opposition’s defence portfolio.

His previous appointments include Treasury spokesman under former leader Peter Dutton, but also span across ministerial positions under the former Turnbull and Morrison governments.

Those included Minister for Energy, Industry and Emissions, Minister for Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity, and Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation.

Mr Taylor is a conservative Christian, born and raised on a livestock property in rural NSW, who now lives on a farm in Goulburn with his wife Louise Clegg and four children.

The 59-year-old joined the Liberal Party when he was 26.

He’s a Rhodes scholar who attended the University of Sydney and Oxford University and worked in management consulting and agriculture business prior to politics.

After Mr Dutton’s disastrous election loss at the 2025 election, Mr Taylor had put his hand up to take on the role but was narrowly beaten by current leader Sussan Ley.

Angus Taylor has formally declared his intention to challenge Sussan Ley for the Liberal leadership after a swathe of resignations from the shadow ministry kicked off.

Jockeying is well underway also for the deputy leader position, with one MP saying there was a “Melbourne Cup field” of contenders.

Mr Taylor resigned as shadow defence minister late on Wednesday night, saying he didn’t believe Ms Ley was “in a position to be able to lead the party as it needs to be led”.

He declared on Thursday morning that he wanted to lead the party.

“I’m running to be the leader of the Liberal Party because I believe that Australia is worth fighting for,” he said in a slick social media video filmed at a rural location.

“I believe we need strong and decisive leadership that gives Australians clarity, courage and confidence in providing a vision for the future.

​Read the latest wrap on the Liberal developments so far. ​

Queensland MP Garth Hamilton has declared it a “good day to be a conservative” as the Liberal party gears up for Angus Taylor’s leadership challenge.

The LNP member for Groom said Mr Taylor would “make a good leader” and insisted the ball was now in Ms Ley’s court on “how her leadership ends”.

“I think Sussan’s got the choice of how her leadership ends, that’s in her hands now,” Mr Hamilton said.

“I hope as a party, we do this in a way that is in the best interest of Australians. I think Angus will make a good leader.

“We need a credible opposition. We need strong opposition. We’re not at the moment. We need to make that change.

“And over the next 24 hours, we’ll see how many of my colleagues are willing to face up to that reality.”

As Grey MP Tom Venning walked into Parliament on Thursday, he added: “The sooner we can get away from this mess. And start putting the focus back on this government, the better for the Australian people.”

Canning MP Andrew Hastie, who has previously declared his own leadership ambitions, didn’t provide comment to the awaiting cameras.

Angus Taylor quit the frontbench on Wednesday night, setting up a challenge to Sussan Ley for the Liberal leadership, which could see him become the leader by Friday.

Following the last election, where Peter Dutton led the Opposition to its worst-ever electoral position in history, the Coalition is behaving like a chook in the period after it has had its head cut off and before keeling over dead.

The Liberals are fighting for their survival from their weakest-ever position.

But for what? And why? Because what is the point of the Coalition these days, and by extension, what is the point of Angus Taylor?

In the event the Opposition even registers in voters’ minds, these are the questions they will be asking and the ones that Angus Taylor must answer, and well, if, as is expected, he takes on the leadership.

​Read Latika M Bourke’s full opinion here. ​

Moderate Liberals have been tight-lipped in the wake of conservative frontbencher Angus Taylor’s declaration he’ll challenge Sussan Ley’s leadership.

Andrew Bragg provided a short and sharp response to reporters while walking into Parliament on Thursday morning when asked if there would be a spill today.

“Who knows,” Mr Bragg shrugged.

While SA moderate Anne Ruston appeared to rush past awaiting cameras, only offering “I’m here to do a job”.

She’s among other Liberal senators who have been locked in Estimates this week.

Many are understood to be pushing for the leadership saga to be held off until Friday.

Supporters of Ms Ley claim she hasn’t been given an adequate opportunity to lead the party, less than a year after Peter Dutton’s dire election performance, which saw the party record its worst result since formation.

A Ley ally also highlighted that the challenge had even emerged prior to their post-election review being released.

Another two senior members of Sussan Ley’s frontbench have resigned from the Shadow Ministry ahead of a formal challenge from Angus Taylor for the Liberal leadership.

Senator Jonno Duniam, the shadow minister for home affairs and manager of Opposition business in the Senate and Senator James Paterson, shadow minister for finance and a member of the leadership group, have jointly resigned this morning.

Senator Paterson is a key ally of Mr Taylor and is a central figure in the push to oust Ms Ley, who is the Liberal Party’s first female leader.

The Liberal Party are now locked in limbo over the timing of a party room meeting, which will decide leadership aspirant Angus Taylor’s fate.

Mr Taylor’s resignation on Wednesday evening and his public declaration in a social media video on Thursday morning that he will challenge Sussan Ley will trigger a party room meeting either today or tomorrow.

Ms Ley’s camp expects her to make a call in the next couple of hours.

It’s understood Mr Taylor’s camp would like her to pull the trigger this evening, with a Taylor-Hume joint ticket looking increasingly more likely.

Some senators locked in Estimates hearings are, however, pushing for the challenge to be held on Friday.

It’s expected Ms Ley won’t use the list of names approach Malcolm Turnbull wielded in 2018.

A Ley ally told The Nightly that Mr Taylor would bring baggage rather than renewal to the party.

“What will be a big deal would be the baggage that would come with the very low economic credibility that would bring,” the Ley ally said.

WA Liberal MP Ben Small has told reporters outside Parliament House that conservative leadership rival Angus Taylor “is the man” needed to run the Liberal party.

“I think that we’re at a crossroads as a party,” the Forrest MP said.

“For us to be a relevant political force that fights for middle Australia and the dreams of home ownership, a strong economy, and a strong Australia — Angus is the man.”

Mr Taylor handed in his shadow ministry registration to Sussan Ley — the party’s first female leader — on Wednesday night ahead of his expected challenge at their next party room.

WA senator Matt O’Sullivan said he’s lost faith in Sussan Ley’s leadership in part because it was clear the Australian people weren’t warming to her.

“This shouldn’t be looked at through a gendered lens. The reality is over a million female voters that voted for us last time are now saying they’re not going to vote for us,” he told this masthead.

“What they’re looking for is an alternative vision for the country and not an opposition that’s just reactive to what the government’s putting up day-to-day.

“We’re failing to present that clear alternative.”