Sussan Ley campaigning in the 2025 election. Will the Liberal Party install a woman leader so she can fall over the glass cliff at the next election? Photo: Sussan Ley Instagram.
Following its drubbing at the polls on 3 May, the Coalition is looking at the possibility of another decade on the Opposition benches.
There’s certainly next to no chance of it winning the next federal election in three years.
Armed with all that reality, the Liberals might make a woman their leader on Tuesday (13 May) – not out of any realisation that she could be the best person suited for the role, but because there’s no chance of her being successful.
Can’t have another man take the Libs to another devastating defeat, after all.
Would the rightwing powerbrokers of the party stand for that? Maybe they’d rather have a woman right now.
There’s a name for that kind of behaviour – it’s called “the glass cliff”.
It happens in politics, the public and private sectors, in male-dominated corporations, when it’s not the best of circumstances for anyone to be leading a particular organisation.
In other words, a professional woman can break through the glass ceiling only to quickly find out that it’s actually a cliff.
It basically describes the situation where a woman, or a member of another minority group, makes it to the top but only when the risk of failure is high and the likelihood of falling off the cliff is ever-present.
The term was coined by the Australian National University’s Michelle Ryan and colleague Alex Haslam when both were undertaking research at England’s University of Exeter.
Professor Ryan subsequently became the director of the ANU’s Global Institute of Women’s Leadership.
The research into the glass cliff was named by The New York Times as one of the top 100 ideas that shaped 2008, and in 2016, the term itself – the glass cliff – was shortlisted as Word of the Year by the Oxford English Dictionary.
A perfect recent and very public example of it in the corporate world comes courtesy of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
As PwC Australia struggled with its worst-ever (self-inflicted) crisis after betraying public trust by sharing confidential Treasury information for its own gain, it installed an acting chief executive officer in 2023 – a woman, Kristin Stubbins.
But that was only until another good ol’ boy could be found to really take the helm, after the rough patch had settled down a bit, of course.
But back to the Liberals, and a new leader will be chosen on Tuesday from two lead contenders.
Current acting leader Sussan Ley is one, and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is the other, and they look to be the only contenders at this stage. However, others could feasibly still throw their hats into the ring by the time the party room meets (Tim Wilson’s name has already been mentioned).
Sussan Ley wasn’t spectacularly effective as the Deputy Opposition Leader over the past term of parliament, while Angus Taylor wasn’t effective at all as shadow treasurer.
On the balance of things, you’d think Ms Ley had the better credentials and could claim more right to the job.
She might well get it, if only so the party can replace her after the next election when it might stand a better chance of winning something (anything) from Labor in the future.
Being the Opposition Leader in the next Federal Parliament will be a thankless and frustrating job with no great reward in sight.
No better circumstances for the dinosaurs in the Liberal Party to activate the glass cliff.
The same can’t be said of the Greens, who must also choose another leader this week.
They’ve never had a problem with women in leadership roles, and when they meet to decide a replacement for Adam Bandt, who lost his seat of Melbourne, two women will likely be the top contenders.
But it won’t be a case of the glass cliff for the next leader of this minor party.
The Greens were wiped out in the House of Representatives, too, and are now back to being a party of the Senate.
They will have a balance of power in the Upper House and, from there, will have a significant influence on legislation.
If they make the most of the opportunity and don’t continue down the path of obstructionism for the sake of it, they can use it to rebuild their representation.
Unlike for the Liberals, the next leader of the Greens won’t be a placeholder position.
Sarah Hanson-Young is the natural choice for the next Greens leader.
She is the longest-serving federal Greens member and has proved her worth to the party.
Senator Hanson-Young is the Greens’ standout parliamentary performer, a clever strategist, and more level-headed than most of them.
This term of parliament is vital for the Greens if they are to regain momentum, and they need a leader who is not there by default.
No glass cliff waiting there.
