Angus Taylor takes Liberal leadership as Sussan Ley quits politics
Event date: 2026-02-13. Angus Taylor has been elected leader of Australia’s Liberal party, defeating Sussan Ley in a partyroom ballot, while Ley announced she would retire from politics and trigger a by-election in her seat of Farrer.
The Guardian’s live report says Jane Hume was elected deputy leader, replacing Ted O’Brien. The result gives Taylor the formal authority to reset the opposition after a period of internal strain, but it also leaves the party facing an immediate contest in a now-open federal seat.
Ley’s retirement matters because Farrer is not a routine vacancy. The report says it will likely become a hotly contested by-election, with One Nation, the independent from the last election and the Nationals all likely to run against the Liberals. That makes the leadership change a broader electoral event rather than just a personnel shift.
Taylor’s first speech as leader signalled a sharper focus on immigration. The report says he wants to lower the rate of immigration and argued that if someone does not subscribe to the party’s core beliefs, “the door must be shut”. The phrasing points to a more assertive rightward pitch as the Liberals try to recover from electoral damage.
Reactions from across the conservative side of politics suggest the spill may change tone more than policy overnight. The report quotes former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull mocking Taylor, while One Nation leader Pauline Hanson described the change as “different jockey, same dead horse.” Those comments indicate that the leadership switch did not produce instant unity outside the room.
Inside the Coalition, however, the mood appears more settled. The National’s deputy leader, Kevin Hogan, said he looked forward to working with Taylor and Hume and suggested the relationship would be smoother going forward. Barnaby Joyce, meanwhile, said the change reflected One Nation’s rise and argued the Liberals should be clearer about their values and policy details.
The by-election in Farrer could become an early test of whether Taylor can hold the party together while also sharpening its message. A leadership win inside parliament is one thing; converting that into electoral momentum in a contested seat is another.
The report also places the spill in a wider Australian political atmosphere, with debate over immigration, the Coalition relationship and the future of conservative politics all surfacing at once. That means the day was not only about who leads the Liberals, but about what kind of opposition they intend to be.
Ley’s exit closes one chapter and opens another. Taylor gets the leadership, Hume gets the deputy role and the party gets a new public face. The harder task is whether those changes can survive the first by-election and the next round of national scrutiny.
