CANBERRA, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Angus Taylor has been elected as Australia's federal opposition leader after he successfully challenged incumbent Sussan Ley for the leadership of the conservative Liberal Party on Friday.

Australia’s opposition Liberal Party member Angus Taylor (C) sits behind leader Sussan Ley, the party's first female leader, during Question Time at Federal Parliament in Canberra on February 11, 2026. (Photo: AFP)

Taylor, a leading member of the Liberal Party's conservative faction, defeated Ley in a leadership ballot by a margin of 34 votes to 17 at a special meeting of the party's 51 elected members at Parliament House in Canberra.

It makes Taylor the 17th person to lead the Liberal Party since it was founded in 1944 and means he will also lead the conservative Coalition that the Liberals form with the National Party.

The party room meeting on Friday morning was called after Taylor resigned from Ley's shadow cabinet on Wednesday night to challenge for the leadership.

Ley, a member of the moderate faction, had served as the Liberal Party's first female leader since she narrowly beat Taylor in a ballot following the May 2025 general election, at which the party suffered its worst result in history.