For the last three years, Sussan Ley served as deputy opposition leader under Peter Dutton. Now she’s confirmed she wants to replace him.

Ley is bidding to become the next leader of the Liberal Party and Australia’s first-ever female opposition leader, following Peter Dutton’s ousting from the seat of Dickson.

What do we know about the woman who has spent three years as deputy opposition leader and is now serving as acting leader of the Liberal Party?

Born in Nigeria in 1961, Ley was only a year old when her British intelligence officer father relocated the family to the United Arab Emirates for a posting.

She was raised there for a time before being sent abroad to England, where she attended boarding school until her family moved again, this time to Australia.

Just 13 when she arrived at the hobby farm her parents had purchased in Toowoomba, Queensland, Ley wasn’t there for long before the family settled properly in Canberra.

There she immersed herself in the local alternative scene, embracing purple hair and a punk style for years while her father worked for the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

In her late teens, Ley got into numerology and subsequently decided to add an extra ‘s’ to her name (from Susan to Sussan).

“I read about this numerology theory that if you add the numbers that match the letters in your name you can change your personality,” she said in a 2015 interview with The Australian.

“I worked out that if you added an ‘s’ I would have an incredibly exciting, interesting life and nothing would every be boring. It’s that simple.”

She added that once she had changed her name, it was hard to take the extra ‘s’ away so she kept it even after her passion for numerology faded.

After graduating high school, Ley aspired to become one of Australia’s first female commercial pilots and even attained her license, but couldn’t secure a job as a commercial pilot.

Eventually she landed a role as an emergency bush pilot in Queensland, watching over stock musters from the air, and headed north.

That’s how she met John Ley, whom she married in 1987 after a few years working as a shearer’s cook (someone who specialises in preparing meals for sheep shearers).

They settled on his family farm in Victoria and had three children.

Ley worked in wool and beef farming, then took up a job as Director of Technical Training at the Australian Taxation Office in Albury before going into politics.

She was first elected to the House of Representatives for Farrer in 2001 after campaigning in a painted blue caravan and has held the seat in southern New South Wales ever since.

Her electorate covers the local government areas of Albury, Balranald, Berrigan, Carrathool, Greater Hume, Griffith, Hay, Murrumbidgee, Leeton, Murray River, Edward River, Federation, Narrandera, and Wentworth.

Ley holds a Bachelor of Economics from La Trobe University, Master of Accounting from Charles Sturt University, and Master of Taxation from University of New South Wales and put them to good use with the Liberals.

She worked as a parliamentary secretary while John Howard was in charge and was elevated to assistant minister under Tony Abbott.

In 2014, she was promoted to cabinet and became minister for health and sport.

When Malcolm Turnbull took office the following year, she added aged care to her remit and was on track to continue climbing the ranks until a controversy in 2017.

That year Ley faced scrutiny for purchasing an almost $800,000 investment property on the Gold Coast during a taxpayer-funded trip.

It sparked an investigation by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and she had to step aside from her ministerial portfolios for a time, but returned to the frontbench in 2019 as environment minister under Scott Morrison.

When the Liberal party lost the 2022 federal election, Ley was elected unopposed as deputy leader to Peter Dutton.

She was made Acting Leader of the Liberal Party when Dutton was ousted from his seat of Dickson in the 2025 federal election.

Now she faces a battle for leadership if she hopes to become the first female leader of the Liberals.

Treasury spokesperson Angus Taylor has confirmed he will be throwing his hat in the ring when the party picks a new leader next week.

Liberal party chiefs confirmed today they’ll be holding a party room ballot to elect a new leader next Tuesday at 10am.