Sussan Ley

Ley was elected to parliament at the 2001 general election. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary (Children and Youth Affairs) in October 2004 and Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in January 2006.[14]

Ley in 2009 at the opening of a library in Jerilderie, New South Wales

Following the 2007 election, Ley was appointed Shadow Minister for Housing and Shadow Minister for Status of Women by Opposition Leader, Dr Brendan Nelson,[15] moving to Shadow Minister for Customs and Justice when Malcolm Turnbull became Opposition Leader in September 2008.[16]

When Tony Abbott became Opposition Leader in December 2009 she was given the portfolio of Shadow Assistant Treasurer[17] and was moved to Shadow Minister for Employment Participation and Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning after the 2010 election.[18]

On 16 September 2013, Ley was appointed Assistant Minister for Education in the Abbott Government, with responsibility for childcare.[19]

As part of a ministerial reshuffle, on 23 December 2014 Ley was promoted to cabinet, to become the Minister for Health. She also became Minister for Sport.[3][4][5][6]

New prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull added the Aged Care portfolio to her responsibilities in September 2015.[8]

In January 2017, an examination of Ley's expenditure claims and travel entitlements revealed she had purchased an apartment on the Gold Coast, close to the business premises of her partner, for $795,000 while on official business in Queensland. Ley defended the purchase, saying her work in the Gold Coast was legitimate, that all travel had been within the rules for entitlements, and that the purchase of the apartment "was not planned nor anticipated"[20] (a claim which was widely derided).[21] On 8 January, Ley released a statement acknowledging that the purchase had changed the context of her travel, and undertaking to repay the government for the cost of the trip in question as well as three others.[22] The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Ley had made 27 taxpayer-funded trips to the Gold Coast in recent years.[23]

On 9 January 2017, Ley announced that she would stand aside from her ministerial portfolios until an investigation into her travel expenses was completed by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. She announced that she would not be making her diaries public.[24] On 13 January 2017, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that Ley had resigned from the ministry.[25] Greg Hunt was appointed as Ley's replacement as the Minister for Health and Sport, and Ken Wyatt was appointed Assistant Minister for Health and Minister for Indigenous Health and Aged Care,[26] both with effect from 24 January 2017.[27]

In May 2018 Ley introduced a private member's bill to ban the live export of sheep.[28][29]

During the second Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill of 2018, Ley signed the petition requesting to hold a party meeting to determine the leadership of the Liberal party.[30]

On 26 August 2018, Ley was appointed Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories[31] in the Morrison Government.

On 26 May 2019, Ley was announced as Minister for the Environment,[32] to replace Melissa Price.

On the 27th of October 2020, Ley approved the destruction of 52 hectares of critical koala habitat for the brandy hill quarry expansion. A decision drawing widespread criticism after the deaths of a third of the New South Wales’ koala population and an estimated loss of 24% of habitat in the 2020 bushfire disaster.