Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has been in the top job for exactly nine months today, but has struggled to find clear air to litigate her vision for the party.
Since taking the vacant role following Peter Dutton’s loss at last May’s election, Ley has overseen plummeting personal and party polls, two splits with the National Party, a series of high-profile defections from her frontbench, and a handful of attacks on the government that have fallen flat.
Everything came to a head last week shortly after the Coalition reunited, when The Australian’s Newspoll showed the Coalition on a primary vote of just 18 per cent. After much speculation defence spokesperson Angus Taylor resigned from the frontbench on Wednesday, and on Thursday made clear he was challenging for the leadership.
Taylor was followed off the frontbench by high-profile conservatives James Paterson and Jonno Duniam, as others tendered their resignations and publicly offered their support to Taylor.
It is rare for an opposition leader to be given so little time to turn party direction around, and backers of Ley have argued she has done well and deserves more time.
