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Sussan Ley has announced she will soon quit politics, saying she plans to step away “completely and comprehensively” from public life after her tenure as Liberal leader ended after just 276 days.
Angus Taylor toppled Ley by 34 votes to 17 in a leadership ballot on Friday morning, with the senator Jane Hume elected his deputy. Taylor put immigration front and centre of his first public comments as leader, arguing that “the door must be shut” on people who don’t share “Australian values”.
The sharpest political reaction came from Malcolm Turnbull, who said some characterised Taylor as “the best-qualified idiot they’ve ever met”. The pollster and former Liberal party strategist Tony Barry writes that although Ley is today’s scapegoat, she was never the party’s core problem.
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In pictures
Margot Robbie and Wuthering Heights co-star Jacob Elordi walked the carpet at Sydney’s State Theatre on Thursday night for the Australian premiere of Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s doomed romance.
What they said …
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“I’ve had such a good year of training but not competing, and what a time to get it dialled and sorted, when the pressure is at its max.”
Cooper Woods became Australia’s seventh Winter Olympics gold medallist with victory in the men’s moguls final, laying down a run that edged out the sport’s most accomplished and decorated athlete.
Full Story
New Liberal leader Angus Taylor wants to ‘shut the door’.
Political editor Tom McIlroy speaks to Nour Haydar about how the Liberal leadership spill went down and Angus Taylor’s striking shift in tone on immigration.
Before bed read
Gold in the Winter Olympics ice dance went by a narrow margin to the French duo of Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron – a stunning achievement for a partnership that is less than a year old. But the French pair’s union is set against a backdrop of allegations involving their former partners.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: BEST. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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