Angus Taylor defeats Sussan Ley to become new Opposition Leader; Jane Hume elected deputy
Independent state MP Helen Dalton, who represents the NSW seat of Murray, said she was open to the idea of contesting the federal seat of Farrer, which will remain vacant when Sussan Ley resigns from parliament.
“My cell phone has been on fire ever since Susan announced she was leaving politics. I understand that the people in my district want their voices to be heard, and whatever I decide to do, I will do so to ensure their voices are much louder,” Dalton said in a statement this afternoon.
“While the calls for me to run are sincere, I need to make sure that whatever I do will give the people in my district the best possible representation. That could be in federal politics, it could be in state politics. This news is only a few hours old and I have some serious thinking to do.”
Dalton was elected as a representative of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party in 2019 before leaving to become an independent in March 2022. He was re-elected as an independent in the 2023 state election.
The province’s Murray electorate overlaps with the federal seat of Ley, Farrer, and includes the regional city of Griffith. Ley won the seat for the Liberals in 2001, which came as a shock to the Nationals who had previously held the seat.
The bipartisan vote in the 2025 federal election came down to Ley and Michelle Milthorpe, an independent candidate backed by the Climate 200 movement.
Dalton said the key message of the moment was that people in rural Australia felt unrepresented by their political leaders.
“Rural Australians are the heart and soul of this country and yet we continue to be ignored by state and federal governments. For now, I will continue to talk to people in my district to better understand what they want,” he said.
“Sussan has given voters everything she has and that is important. I sincerely wish her every success… I thought Sussan’s exit speech was gracious and sincere, especially given that she has had a very difficult time in politics over the last 12 months as leader of the opposition.”
