Australian news and politics live: Leadership spill confirmed, Sussan Ley, Angus Taylor to go head-to-head

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has focused on violence against women in her Closing The Gap speech, saying it was a “devastating” issue that “needs urgent attention” and urged Australia to “confront reality”.

“The prevalence of violence against Indigenous women is devastatingly higher, with around one-third of intimate partner homicides involving Indigenous women,” she said.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 27 times more likely than other Australian women to be hospitalised due to family violence.

“As I have said, while we continue to support the primary violence-prevention efforts led by bipartisan, intergenerational campaigns, we must also confront reality.

“And the reality is this: there is more to be done to address risk factors, to support men to change, and to ensure the justice system operates to keep women safe.”

In a deeply personal speech at the National Press Club in June — just weeks after taking the helm as the Liberals’ first female leader — Ms Ley revealed she had experienced domestic violence in the form of coercive control.

Ms Ley had vowed she “understands the pain” domestic violence causes families.

The group fighting Australia’s under 16s social media ban have released a timeline for their High Court challenge.

Advocacy group Digital Freedom Project launched a campaign in November, with two 15-year-olds, Macy Neyland and Noah Jones, listed as the plaintiffs.

In a statement, the group said they planned to serve the Commonwealth with a draft special case and any material proposed to be annexed to it by next Friday.

A defence is expected by March 27, before the plaintiffs file and serve any agreed special case by April 24. The matter will then be listed for further directions on April 28.

Sussan Ley has delivered her Closing The Gap address to Parliament, in her first public appearance since Liberal frontbencher Angus Taylor handed in his resignation and announced he would challenge for leadership.

The Opposition Leader said it was a time for the nation to come together in a “shared commitment to do better” and deliver “sustained action”.

“The Closing the Gap framework was intended to be one such commitment — a practical expression of our responsibility to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians have the same life opportunities as every other Australian.

“The report outlines the Albanese Government’s response to a deeply concerning picture.

“While there has been progress in a small number of targets, only four are on track and indeed four have gone backwards.

“Outcomes in health, education, housing, justice and economic participation continue to fall short of what any of us should accept.”

“These are not abstract statistics. They represent lives shaped by disrupted schooling, unsafe housing, and contact with systems that too often intervene late rather than support early.”

Anthony Albanese has used his Closing The Gap address in Parliament to highlight the “racism and hatred behind” the Perth Invasion Day rally bomb scare.

A 31-year-old man has been accused of making and throwing the homemade bomb at a crowd of thousands on January 26, which is being investigated as terrorist act.

He was charged with “engaging in a terrorist act”, which marked the first such charge in WA’s history.

“I know that since the alleged terrorist attack in Perth, many of you have been providing comfort to people grappling with shock and fear,” the PM said on Thursday.

“People imagining how much worse things could have been.

“I want to reaffirm what I said here last week, on behalf of the Government and the people of Australia. We see you. We stand with you.

“The danger of that alleged attack was real – and so was the racism and hatred behind it, motivated by a white supremacy ideology.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the right to gather and express their views, without fear of violence.

“More than that, you have the right to a full and equal place in our nation and our future.

“Unburdened by discrimination or disadvantage. Empowered by opportunity and security. That is the test – and the purpose – of Closing the Gap.”

The Liberal party room meeting to decide the spill motion and then the leadership question will be held at 9am in Canberra on Friday.

As covered earlier, Phil Thompson and Jessica Collins jointly wrote to leader Sussan Ley and chief opposition whip Aaron Violi, asking for the meeting to be scheduled.

Senate estimates hearings continue in Parliament House today, with the programs for most running until 11pm, making it difficult for senators to make time.

Anthony Albanese says urgent action is needed on four key areas in the Closing The Gap report, which have either “stalled or gone backwards”.

The Prime Minister raised suicide as the “most urgent of those”, saying it shatters families and communities in his annual Closing The Gap speech delivered to Parliament House on Thursday.

“Compared to non-indigenous Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 2.5 times more likely to die by suicide,” he said.

“As a matter of priority, our government will deliver $13.9 million to boost the national support line 13 yarn. A crisis counselling service designed, led and delivered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

He also raised Indigenous deaths in custody and incarceration rates, the need to break down barriers to wealth and economic sovereignty, as well as the importance of education.

The PM’s speech comes 18 years after former Labor MP Kevin Rudd’s apology.

Experienced WA MP Melissa Price says she is considering putting her hand up for the deputy leader role, but maintains she supports Sussan Ley.

The Durack MP, whose electorate covers the top half of WA, said she had been discussing the possibility with colleagues.

“I’ve spoken to a number of people, why not?” she told ABC radio.

“I think I’ve got a lot to offer, I’m very experienced, I’ve been there since 2013. I think I’d be a good counterbalance to Angus should he become the leader.”

Ms Price also lamented the fact that she thought Ms Ley had been undermined since she became leader, partially because she was a woman.

“I thought once Sussan won the ballot back in May, it was obvious to me that there was still a team of winners and losers,” she said.

“She wasn’t going to get their support because people who had lost, i.e. the people who’d been supporting Angus, they weren’t happy about that, and partly it was because all of a sudden we had a woman as a leader.

“Julia Gillard was very famous in saying about her own Prime Ministerial leadership that it wasn’t all about her being a female, but it wasn’t nothing either, and I think that is definitely the case with Sussan.”

Liberal Senator James Paterson has held a press conference to explain his resignation from Sussan Ley’s front bench amid a challenge from Angus Taylor.

He is just one of a number of prominent frontbenchers resigning as the party now waits for Ms Ley to call on a party room meeting.

Senator Paterson referred to dire polling under Ms Ley, saying the party had lost 200,000 voters a month and split to the lowest point since the more than two-decades of Newspoll.

“It’s something that I didn’t do lightly. It’s something I did with a heavy heart. Sussan is a decent person. She is a good Liberal. She has been dealt many tough hands in the last nine months,” he said.

“But I no longer have confidence in her ability to turn this ship around, to get our party back on track, before the next election.

“And as a result of that, I had to resign my position in the shadow ministry to tell her that I am supporting a spill motion.

“If a spill motion is successful, I’ll be voting for Angus Taylor as leader.

“Angus is the smartest policy brain in the shadow cabinet.

“He’s a man of deep conviction, and courage and values. And most importantly Angus understands that this is a change or die moment for the Liberal Party.”

Conservative leadership aspirant Angus Taylor was elected to the New South Wales seat of Hume in 2013.

Before his resignation from the shadow ministry on Wednesday evening, he held the opposition’s defence portfolio.

His previous appointments include Treasury spokesman under former leader Peter Dutton, but also span across ministerial positions under the former Turnbull and Morrison governments.

Those included Minister for Energy, Industry and Emissions, Minister for Law Enforcement and Cybersecurity, and Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation.

Mr Taylor is a conservative Christian, born and raised on a livestock property in rural NSW, who now lives on a farm in Goulburn with his wife Louise Clegg and four children.

The 59-year-old joined the Liberal Party when he was 26.

He’s a Rhodes scholar who attended the University of Sydney and Oxford University and worked in management consulting and agriculture business prior to politics.

After Mr Dutton’s disastrous election loss at the 2025 election, Mr Taylor had put his hand up to take on the role but was narrowly beaten by current leader Sussan Ley.