Peter Dutton has been elected as the new leader of the Liberal party, with Sussan Ley as his deputy.

Both Dutton and Ley were elected unopposed in a party room meeting, following the leadership resignation from former Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Prior to the election the deputy leader had been former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, but he failed to be returned, his inner city Melbourne seat of Kooyong falling to independent Zoe Daniels.

Speaking after the vote Scott Morrison offered his support to the new leadership team.

“They’re incredibly experienced, well-versed, deeply committed Australians to both the Liberal cause and, of course, the cause of the nation,” he said.

“I think they’ll do an outstanding job and I look forward to giving them all of my full support.”

Peter Dutton was first elected to parliament in 2001, he represents the Queensland seat of Dickson. Prior to entering parliament he served in the Queensland police, before embarking on a successful business career.

In the Howard government he was appointed to the outer ministry as the Minister for Employment Participation, and later Assistant Minister to the Treasurer, serving under Peter Costello.

During the six years the Liberals spent in opposition while the Rudd and Gillard governments were in power he served as Shadow Minister for Health.

In the Abbot government he was Minister for Health and Sport, and later moved to be the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. In 2017, under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, he became the Minister for Home Affairs, overseeing a large super-department the amalgamated several different portfolios.

In 2018 he unsuccessfully challenged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the leadership of the party, but was not successful. A few days later Turnbull resigned from his role but the leadership position went to Scott Morrison. Under Morrison he continued as Home Affairs Minister before switching to Minister for Defence and Leader of the House.

Following the Coalition’s election loss Dutton has been working hard to cast off his ‘hard man’ image and present himself as a family man and inclusive leader.

During his parliamentary career Peter Dutton has been an advocate for traditional marriage, and during the debate over marriage equality memorably told businesses supporting same-sex marriage to “stick to their knitting”. After his constituency voted in favour of changing the laws he voted in favour when the bill was presented to parliament.

Sussan Ley also joined the Australian parliament in 2001, represented the rural New South Wales seat of Farrer. Prior to her political career she was the Director of Technical Training at the Australian Tax Office.

She was a cabinet minister in the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments. She has served as Assistant Minister for Education, and Assistant Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Aged Care, and also held the Health, Sport, Environment portfolios.

In 2017 Ley resigned as Minister for Health while an investigation was conducted into her travel expenses. Questions arose over the Ley’s frequent trips to Queensland and her purchase of an apartment, she maintained all her travel was within the rules, but repaid the costs of several trips.

Ley added an extra letter to her name after studying numerology.

OIP Staff

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