Australia news live: Angus Taylor says Liberals must ‘unify’ after losing leadership ballot to Sussan Ley
Angus Taylor: Sussan Ley’s appointment a ‘milestone’ for Liberal party
Caitlin Cassidy
The federal member for Hume, Angus Taylor, has issued a statement after narrowly losing in a bid to lead the Liberal party.
He congratulated new leader Sussan Ley on her success in the ballot, describing it as a “milestone”.
Sussan has led a remarkable life and becoming the first woman to lead the Liberal Party is a milestone for Sussan and our party.
Taylor said serving as shadow treasurer for the past three years had been “one of the greatest honours of my time in public life”.
Economics is ultimately about people. Over the past three years, Australians have experienced a record collapse in their standard of living – rising prices, falling wages, and a growing sense that hope is becoming a luxury product.
I’m proud that we took to the election strong and practical plans to beat inflation sustainably; repair our housing and energy markets; revive growth by backing small business and investment; deliver targeted, timely tax relief; and restore the budget to protect our nation.
Taylor noted the Liberal Party had suffered an “historic defeat, and we have lost many good people in this election”.
This result shows we must do more to convince Australians that the Coalition is the best party to support aspiration, economic opportunity, and the Australian dream. We must do better and we must unify.
The Liberal Party has a proud history, and I firmly believe in its future. I will contribute the best way I can to help get us back in the fight. It is crucial Australia has a strong and competent opposition to hold this Labor government to account.
Key events
Albanese said he will now start delivering on their election promises.
We put forward a positive agenda in the election campaign. Our job is to go through every single one of our commitments and deliver on them. And that’s what I expect ministers to do over the coming three years. We have an incredible honour of dealing with representing the best country on Earth.
He said he would be travelling to Indonesia tomorrow to meet with President Prabowo Subianto.
Albanese said the Labour Party put forward a “positive agenda” during the campaign:
We had a clear plan. We set about focusing on the issues that were close to people. We understood that we governed in really difficult global economic times.
And we were focused on cost-of-living relief whilst getting that downward pressure on inflation whilst continuing to provide better services in health, in education, dealing with the decade of neglect when it comes to climate change and the decade of neglect when it comes to building housing and increasing housing supply.
And we are going to Canberra, where the PM is speaking. He said:
It is an incredible honour to be elected as a member of parliament, but it’s an even greater honour to serve in the Executive of a Labor government. And it’s important that we repay the faith and trust that’s been placed in us on the 3rd of May. We are ahead at this point in 94 electorates – there is a possibility of a 95th.
Josh Butler
Sussan Ley to hold press conference at 1.30pm; new cabinet meets
It’s been a busy morning and there will be another busy hour coming up. At about 1.30pm we’ll hear the first remarks from new opposition leader Sussan Ley, who will hold a press conference in Parliament House after her victory in the Liberal leadership ballot earlier today.
No doubt, she’ll get questions on how she plans to bring the party together after their election drubbing, where the Liberals go now, and the future of policies like their nuclear energy push (championed by her new deputy, Ted O’Brien).
But before that, very shortly, we’re expecting to hear from prime minister Anthony Albanese. He’s holding the first meeting of his new cabinet, which was sworn in this morning, and we’ll likely get some remarks from the start of the meeting.
A number of new faces and new roles will be in that meeting, as we’ve reported.
Bindi Irwin has surgery for ruptured appendix and large hernia
Bindi Irwin has missed her late father Steve Irwin’s annual gala after being rushed to hospital with a ruptured appendix.
Posting a video from the hospital to social media, Irwin said after many months of a “grumbly appendix”, she finally had to seek help the day of the gala.
After consulting with Dr Seckin, we agreed that if I flew to New York, he could also check for endometriosis again. Surgery was a success.
She said she also had a repair to a large hernia and appreciated all the kind messages she had received.
Credit to [her brother] Robert for hosting the evening; he did such an incredible job raising funds and awareness for Wildlife Warriors. And thanks to my family for always being there for me.
Luca Ittimani
NAB April survey: persistent business pessimism, especially among retailers and wholesalers
Australian businesses grew a little more hopeful as tariff chaos eased in April but remain more pessimistic overall, new data from NAB has found.
Retailers and wholesalers were the least confident, possibly reflecting a slower-than-expected recovery in household spending, after last week’s data came in lower than predicted.
But manufacturers were significantly more optimistic in mid-April than they were the previous month, while construction companies and financial services companies were also slightly more confident, according to NAB’s monthly business survey.
Conditions are still difficult as profits fall and customers cut their forward orders of products, especially from retailers and wholesalers. Companies also cut back on big-ticket capital expenditure on new equipment and technology, sending the measure to its lowest level in nearly a year, in a sign of persistent pessimism about the future.
NAB’s monthly business survey indicated businesses’ existing equipment, tech and workforce were less stretched in April, with the easing pressure signalled by a fall in capacity utilisation to its long-run average level for the first time since mid-2021.
Angus Taylor: Sussan Ley’s appointment a ‘milestone’ for Liberal party
Caitlin Cassidy
The federal member for Hume, Angus Taylor, has issued a statement after narrowly losing in a bid to lead the Liberal party.
He congratulated new leader Sussan Ley on her success in the ballot, describing it as a “milestone”.
Sussan has led a remarkable life and becoming the first woman to lead the Liberal Party is a milestone for Sussan and our party.
Taylor said serving as shadow treasurer for the past three years had been “one of the greatest honours of my time in public life”.
Economics is ultimately about people. Over the past three years, Australians have experienced a record collapse in their standard of living – rising prices, falling wages, and a growing sense that hope is becoming a luxury product.
I’m proud that we took to the election strong and practical plans to beat inflation sustainably; repair our housing and energy markets; revive growth by backing small business and investment; deliver targeted, timely tax relief; and restore the budget to protect our nation.
Taylor noted the Liberal Party had suffered an “historic defeat, and we have lost many good people in this election”.
This result shows we must do more to convince Australians that the Coalition is the best party to support aspiration, economic opportunity, and the Australian dream. We must do better and we must unify.
The Liberal Party has a proud history, and I firmly believe in its future. I will contribute the best way I can to help get us back in the fight. It is crucial Australia has a strong and competent opposition to hold this Labor government to account.
Luca Ittimani
Australian consumers feeling more confident after Labor win, US-China trade talks
Australian consumers are feeling a little more confident about the economy after Labor’s re-election and a partial post-tariff sharemarket recovery, after a month of election campaign uncertainty at home and Donald Trump trade chaos abroad.
A rise in the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index points shows more Australians think their family finances have improved in the past year, are more likely to splash out on a big item, and have more faith the economy will keep improving.
The index rose 2.2% from early April to May, or a more substantial 6% if compared with consumer sentiment after Trump’s tariff announcement. Household confidence also continued to track upwards on the ANZ-Roy Morgan measure, which reached its highest level since the Reserve Bank’s interest rate cut in February.
Matthew Hassan, Westpac’s head of Australian macro forecasting, said survey respondents who didn’t vote for Peter Dutton were particularly optimistic in the days after the election:
The combined effect of a bounce among ALP and swing voters slightly outweighed the fall among Coalition voters.
Hassan also pointed to greater confidence from older respondents whose superannuation might be benefiting from rebounding sharemarkets and from renters and young people enjoying falling petrol prices, but he warned the index was still 3.9% below its March level.
Consumer sentiment has recovered just over a third of last month’s tariff-related fall … and [is] in ‘firmly pessimistic’ territory overall.
But that measure may improve after the US-China temporary tariff deal, announced yesterday, and another interest rate cut, which the RBA is widely expected to deliver next Tuesday.
Ted O’Brien: the moderate who is pro Asia and pro nuclear
And who is Ted O’Brien, the new deputy leader of the Liberals?
Well, he loves nuclear. The MP for Fairfax has been the shadow minister for climate change and energy and led an inquiry into the possibility of nuclear energy in Australia.
He also loves the Olympics and played a big role in securing Brisbane 2032. O’Brien is a moderate who, in a pre-parliament life, worked overseas in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
He has previously called for a free-trade agreement with Taiwan.
And as one reader pointed out – we would be a miss to not mention O’Brien was also Chair of the Australian Republican Movement from 2005 to 2007.
Krishani Dhanji
Price will work with new leaders to make Coalition ‘formidable opposition’
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has congratulated new Liberal leader Sussan Ley and deputy leader Ted O’Brien.
In a statement, she said she was “disappointed” Angus Taylor wasn’t elected. She bowed out of the race for deputy after his loss.
She said she was still committed to the Liberal party and the Coalition.
I was contesting the position of deputy leader on a ticket with Angus Taylor, and given the outcome with respect to the position of leader of the Liberal party, I chose not to contest the position of deputy leader.
I will work with Sussan Ley and Ted O’Brien to ensure the Coalition is a formidable opposition to the Albanese Labor government.
Nampijinpa Price defected from the Nationals last week, and announced over the weekend that she would run with Taylor, with the pair releasing a video on social media, publicising the move.
The Nationals said they were “disappointed” by the Country Liberal party senator, who can choose to sit with either side of the Coalition, leaving, and re-elected David Littleproud as their leader in a ballot yesterday.
Will Liberals and Nationals remain a coalition?
Asked if the Nationals will stay in coalition with the Liberals, Perin Davey said:
Each state will treat things differently. But it will be a conversation that David Littleproud and Sussan Ley will have. We know that the Coalition, a strong Coalition, works well for this nation, and a Coalition has been in government more than any other party. So it is sensible to have a strong and working Coalition if they can come to that agreement. But it will be a matter for the leadership of the two parties.
Perin Davey: number of frontbench positions held by Nationals needs to be discussed
Davey said there needed to be conversations about how many frontbench positions the Nationals have:
We’re now in a situation where the Nationals hold six lower house seats in New South Wales, and the Liberals hold seven lower house seats in New South Wales.
And yet, the Liberals hold three of the New South Wales Senate positions held by the Coalition, and the Nationals only hold one. So I think that those conversations need to be held, need to be gone through when David and Sussan meet to discuss what future arrangements there will be.
Nationals’ Perin Davey hopes new Liberal leadership will remember rural Australia
Nationals Senator Perin Davey is on the ABC talking about Ley. She said:
I’m particularly excited about having a leader of the Liberal Party who is from the regions. Hopefully, that will put the regions back in focus, because one of my passions in my time in parliament over the last six years has been making sure that regional Australians are not forgotten.
So I’m quite excited that we’ve got a regional leader, and congratulations to Sussan Ley, being the first female elected as leader of the Liberal Party.
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