Sussan Ley says US trip exposed a gulf Australia should not copy
After 276 days as the Coalition’s first female leader, Sussan Ley says a bus trip across the United States left her with a sharp warning
After 276 days as the Coalition’s first female leader, Sussan Ley says a bus trip across the United States left her with a sharp warning about political comparisons. On Greyhound buses through middle America, she saw what she described as a divided, dispassionate country — and one she believes should not be held up as a mirror for Australia.
The experience came after she was removed as Opposition leader, and Ley says it changed the way she looks at politics and public life. She told 7.30 in her first interview since leaving politics that the US trip gave her solitude, her voice and “an empathy for the downtrodden of middle America.”
‘There actually are not’ parallels
Ley was blunt about the temptation to map American politics onto Australia. “I think we make a mistake if we try to draw parallels,” she said. “And if you go to the US and feel that there are immediate parallels, well, the first thing that hits you is that there actually are not.”
The comments land at a moment when Australia’s own right-wing debate has sharpened. While Ley was away and out of the spotlight, One Nation kept climbing in opinion polls, with leader Pauline Hanson drawing heavy attention and coverage.
Hanson’s meeting with convicted criminal and far-right activist Tommy Robinson triggered controversy. But it was her remarks about wanting Australia to become a monocultural society that drew the most discussion.
One Nation’s rise keeps the pressure on
For Ley, the timing matters. Her reflections from the US arrive as One Nation’s profile keeps growing and the Coalition continues to navigate the political space around it. The contrast she describes is stark: America may be divided, but she says Australia should not assume the same forces operate in the same way.
That view may shape how her post-leadership voice is heard next. For now, her message is clear. The US, she says, revealed a country that cannot simply be folded into an Australian political lesson — and the warning from that trip still hangs in the air.
