National

Women 'already disillusioned' by Liberals before spill

Feb 13, 2026

Sussan Ley and her supporters arrive at Parliament House in Canberra — Sussan Ley, the first female leader of the Liberal Party, has been ousted from her position. -AAP Image

Liberals ousting their first female leader won't further alienate women voters, because they were already disillusioned by the party before the dramatic ordeal, experts say.

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Newly selected Opposition Leader Angus Taylor successfully launched a spill motion against Sussan Ley in a special party room showdown on Friday morning.

He emphatically won the leadership with 34 votes, while Ms Ley snared just 17.

Blair Williams, lecturer in politics at UNSW Canberra, said the move wouldn't necessarily turn women voters away from the party, as many already had given its move further to the right.

She said the party had not been a "front runner" for women since the 20th century, when its policies focused on equal opportunities.

"The first childcare policy was legislated by the Liberal Party in 1972," Dr Williams told AAP.

"Now this knee-jerk movement to the right is very much putting women off because of fears they have regarding reproductive rights, around working from home, which we saw in the last election under Peter Dutton."

Speculation over the move to roll the party's only female leader was apparent in parliament on Thursday, with Infrastructure Minister Catherine King accusing the party of a gendered attack on Ms Ley, calling it an "embarrassing spectacle".

"In the last nine months, what we've seen is persistent undermining of the Liberal Party's first-ever female leader from day one," she said.

"That's not my words. That is the words of your shadow attorney-general. And I couldn't agree more."

Answering a question on the government's paid parental leave program, Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek also took a sledge at the then-looming spill.

"After 40 weeks of carrying a baby, mums and dads can look forward to a little bit of time off from the job," she said on Thursday.

"But after 39 weeks of carrying the Liberal Party, I'd say this leader of the opposition can also look forward to a little bit of time off from the job."

Visiting scholar at Queensland University of Technology and former Labor politician, Mary Crawford, said the spill reinforced how difficult it is for Liberal women to join branches, let alone win seats.

"You can see that visually by looking at the parliament, it's very obvious especially when Labor has large numbers of women and the Liberal Party doesn't," Dr Crawford told AAP.

"To topple the woman leader simply reinforces this idea."

While the 2025 election saw the highest number of women elected to both chambers of parliament, only 25 women are part of the coalition.

Failing to advance "clever and talented" women for years prior to the leadership spill contributed to the party's inability to attract female voters, Dr Crawford said.

She added that Ms Ley being elevated to leader after a catastrophic election loss showed "women are called upon to clean up the mess".

"Many people felt there was an element of that around Sussan Ley, and I think this simply reinforces views that the males in the party are resentful of her in leadership," she said.