Leadership Challenge Looms for Australian Opposition Leader Sussan Ley

Political Landscape in Australia

By Renju Jose

Resignation of Angus Taylor

SYDNEY, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Australian opposition leader Sussan Ley is facing a leadership challenge less than a year into the role, after a senior figure in her shadow cabinet resigned saying she was not the right person to lead the conservative Liberal Party.

Support Dynamics within the Party

Angus Taylor announced on Thursday he would run for the leadership after stepping down as the shadow defence minister on Wednesday evening, saying the centre-left Labor government was a failure and the Liberals had lost direction.

Impact of Recent Polls

"The Labor government has failed and the Liberal Party has lost its way," Taylor said in a video posted on social media, telling supporters he was committed to rebuilding the party.

"I believe we need strong and decisive leadership to give Australians clarity, courage and confidence in providing a vision for the future," he said.

Australian media widely reported a party room vote could happen as early as Thursday though some Liberal lawmakers were pushing for the vote to be held on Friday, when parliament will not be sitting.

Taylor is widely seen as a leader of a conservative faction within the Liberal party, while Ley has support from so-called moderate members.

Supporters of both factions said they have the majority support, Australian media reports said. So far, six shadow ministers, including Taylor, have resigned, reports said.

Ley's office did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. In a post on X on Thursday, Ley made no reference to the leadership challenge, saying instead "we will take the pressure off families, fix the budget, and keep Australia safe".

Taylor, who has been a member of the lower house since 2013, said urgent action was needed to restore confidence in the Liberals, whose support has been eroding following a massive election loss to the centre-left Labor Party in May.

Opinion polls have shown the Liberal-National opposition coalition losing voters to far-right populist Senator Pauline Hanson and her anti-immigration party, One Nation.

A Newspoll published this week by The Australian newspaper showed the coalition's primary vote falling to 18%, while support for One Nation surged to 27%, and described Ley as the most unpopular major party leader in more than two decades.

Ley, a former outback pilot who once mustered livestock and raised three children on a farm before graduating from university, became the first woman to lead the Liberals in May after then-leader Peter Dutton lost his seat at the election.

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul and Stephen Coates)