Sussan Ley has become the first female leader of the federal Liberals after being picked to lead the opposition following the coalition’s resounding election defeat.

The former Liberal deputy defeated ex-shadow treasurer Angus Taylor 29 votes to 25 in a partyroom ballot of 54 members on Tuesday in Canberra.

But she may have been handed a poisoned chalice after being tasked with rebuilding the Liberal party after almost all of its metropolitan seats were wiped out on May 3.

The coalition holds 42 of 150 lower house seats, less than half of Labor’s 93.

Of three seats yet to be called, the Liberals are ahead in two and Labor one, meaning there’s a chance of a slight improvement in the tally, but the coalition faces a Herculean task to win government in three years regardless.

Ted O’Brien was elected deputy leader.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price had teamed up with Mr Taylor in a bid to become his second-in-command but the ticket was dead on arrival.

She arrived at her first Liberal partyroom meeting flanked by conservative senators Michaelia Cash, Jonno Duniam and Claire Chandler.

Her defection from the National Party to run as deputy angered former colleagues and some moderate Liberals who disagreed her brash style of politics would be a vote winner in the inner cities.

There is no reason to assume whoever takes the job won’t last until the next election, and the absence of a deep bench could bode well for them, Australian National University politics lecturer Jill Sheppard said.

But leading the coalition when it holds less than half as many seats as Labor is a tough ask, and there is a reason other contenders such as Dan Tehan and Andrew Hastie were quick to rule themselves out.

“It does feel like a bit of a poisoned chalice,” Dr Sheppard told AAP.

“The most important day-one job is to keep the party united, and that’s not going to be easy when there’s a lot of recriminations to be had.”

Moderates have urged the Liberals to abandon culture wars and return to the centre but Dr Sheppard warned that might not solve the party’s problems.

Coming up with policies that stuck closer to the centre could make it harder for the Liberals to differentiate themselves from Labor, she said.

Some of the coalition’s lost votes likely bled to hard-right parties such as One Nation, which could spark internal debates about the importance of “culture wars” to some constituents.

However, it is unclear whether the next leader will be able to change the Liberal Party’s ideological direction.

Leaders were constrained by the partyroom’s extremes and were forced to find balance in the middle, Dr Sheppard said.

“To an extent, it doesn’t matter who is leader – the parties are pretty strong and they will constrain their leader,” she said.

The Nationals re-elected David Littleproud as their leader on Monday following a challenge from conservative senator Matt Canavan.

Australians have been urged to temper their expectations after the treasurer warned that an overnight de-escalation in US-China trade tensions is temporary.

Both countries have agreed to a 90-day pause on tariffs, with the United States committing to dropping 145 per cent levies on China to 30 per cent and Beijing lowering its 125 per cent rates on American imports to 10 per cent.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the development but noted many issues remained unresolved.

“Australia has got a lot to lose from a trade war between the US and China in particular, so we want to see these trade tensions de-escalated permanently, not temporarily,” he told ABC radio on Tuesday.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty, unpredictability, and volatility in the global economy.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy briefed Dr Chalmers on May 4 – the morning after Labor’s election victory – telling him that the global economy had deteriorated since President Donald Trump began his punitive tariffs regime on US trading partners in March.

He told the treasurer that while Australia had fairly strong economic fundamentals, that would not prevent it from being affected.

Uncertainty could undermine investment, weaken labour markets, reduce household spending, and result in more precautionary savings behaviour.

Australia was well-placed and well-prepared to deal with the fallout, Dr Chalmers said, but he acknowledged “we do have a lot of skin in the game”.

“We welcome the announcement over the last day or so (on US-China trade), but we’re not getting carried away,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could travel to the US on his way to the next G7 meeting in Canada in June, as he continues to lobby Mr Trump to lift tariffs on Australia.

The US has imposed a 10 per cent baseline tariff on many Australian imported goods, as well as a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium.

Mr Trump last week announced plans to impose tariffs on all films made overseas and this week vowed to cut medicine prices, raising concerns US companies will balance out their American profit losses with higher prices in other countries.

Dr Chalmers reiterated Australia’s subsidised prescription medicine scheme is “not up for negotiation” in any talks with the US.

While the treasurer has not had contact with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent since the election, Dr Chalmers said there would be opportunities to engage with his counterpart.

Dr Chalmers also said Australia was entering “a period of global dislocation not seen since World War II”.

“Our people are still under pressure and the headwinds in the global economy are picking up at a rate of knots,” he said.

Wages and labour force data to be released this week might guide the Reserve Bank of Australia’s next interest rate decision on May 20.

Economists widely predict the RBA will chop another 0.25 per cent off the cash rate, having announced its first cut in more than four years in February.

Data released on April 30 revealed Australia’s headline inflation was at 2.4 per cent in the year to March, down from as high as 7.8 per cent in December 2022.

Dr Chalmers has often referred to Australia’s “soft landing” from those heights, pointing to the increased real wages and low unemployment achieved simultaneously to lowering inflation.

“This is an enviable position for our economy to be in – unique when we look around the world and compare ourselves to history, and defying the economic orthodoxy,” he said.

“We know the job isn’t finished and we know we will be faced with more global economic volatility and unpredictability over the next three years, not less … it’s one of the reasons why Australians voted so emphatically for stability in uncertain times.”

Australians are being warned to brace for economic turbulence, as Donald Trump’s trade tariffs threaten to endanger the nation’s “soft landing” from high inflation.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has provided his starkest caution about impending headwinds, citing “extreme” global uncertainty that could bring economic shocks in the near-term.

Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy briefed Dr Chalmers on May 4 – the morning after Labor’s election victory – and said the global economy had deteriorated since the US president announced his tariffs.

Not even Australia’s fairly strong fundamentals would stop it being affected, he told the treasurer.

The uncertainty could bring a decline in investment, weak labour markets, less household spending and more precautionary savings behaviour.

Dr Chalmers said Australia was entering “a period of global dislocation not seen since World War II”.

“Our people are still under pressure and the headwinds in the global economy are picking up at a rate of knots,” he said.

“As we start this second term, we are staring down an intensifying global trade war, a real risk of recession in the world’s biggest economy, inflation much higher than Australia’s in most of the OECD and extreme global uncertainty and volatility.”

The uncertainty is being driven by the US, after Mr Trump imposed large tariffs on global imports, including Australia, sparking threats of retaliation.

The unpredictable way the Trump administration is managing its punitive tariffs regime has sparked warnings from major American investment banks about a US and subsequent global recession.

Wages and labour force data to be released this week might guide the Reserve Bank of Australia’s next interest rate decision on May 20.

Economists widely predict the RBA will chop another 0.25 per cent off the cash rate, having announced its first cut in more than four years in February.

Data released on April 30 revealed Australia’s headline inflation was at 2.4 per cent in the year to March, down from as high as 7.8 per cent in December 2022.

Dr Chalmers has often referred to Australia’s “soft landing” from those heights, pointing to the increased real wages and low unemployment achieved simultaneously to lowering inflation.

“This is an enviable position for our economy to be in – unique when we look around the world and compare ourselves to history, and defying the economic orthodoxy,” he said.

“We know the job isn’t finished and we know we will be faced with more global economic volatility and unpredictability over the next three years, not less … it’s one of the reasons why Australians voted so emphatically for stability in uncertain times.”

The winner of the Liberal leadership could be handed a poisoned chalice as they are tasked with resurrecting the party from its post-election ashes.

Liberal politicians will choose their next leader on Tuesday after Australians handed them a bruising election defeat that decimated their ranks and took out Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Deputy leader Sussan Ley will face off against shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, while senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has teamed up with Mr Taylor in a bid to become his second-in-command.

There is no reason to assume whoever takes the job won’t last until the next election, and the absence of a deep bench could bode well for them, Australian National University politics lecturer Jill Sheppard said.

But leading the coalition when it holds less than half as many seats as Labor is a tough ask, and there is a reason other contenders such as Dan Tehan and Andrew Hastie were quick to rule themselves out.

“It does feel like a bit of a poisoned chalice,” Dr Sheppard told AAP.

“Usually, they at least pretend to want to run for a few days.

“The most important day-one job is to keep the party united, and that’s not going to be easy when there’s a lot of recriminations to be had.”

About 50 Liberal politicians are expected to vote on the party’s future, including recently returned MP Tim Wilson, who also considered throwing his hat in the ring.

Moderates have urged the Liberals to abandon culture wars and return to the centre but Dr Sheppard warned that might not solve the party’s problems.

Coming up with policies that stuck closer to the centre could make it harder for the Liberals to differentiate themselves from Labor, she said.

Some of the coalition’s lost votes likely bled to hard-right parties such as One Nation, which could spark internal debates about the importance of “culture wars” to some constituents.

However, it is unclear whether the next leader will be able to change the Liberal Party’s ideological direction.

“You’re still dealing with the same party room,” Dr Sheppard said.

“What we’ve seen with both Dutton and (Prime Minister Anthony) Albanese is that you can come from quite extreme parts of your party, but in order to maintain the leadership, you have to sit somewhere around the centre.

“To an extent, it doesn’t matter who is leader – the parties are pretty strong and they will constrain their leader.”

The vote will be the first time Senator Price has stepped into the Liberal party room after she defected from the Nationals to join Mr Taylor’s ticket.

The Nationals re-elected David Littleproud as their leader on Monday following a challenge from conservative senator Matt Canavan.

Harnessing the benefits of diversity and inclusion within Australian workplaces amid global pushback could boost company profits and improve conditions.

That’s the verdict of the chief executive of UN Women Australia, which will launch a pioneering leadership network on Tuesday to help address the gender and diversity gap.

Diversity and inclusion programs have come under attack overseas, including in the US, where President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to end what he has described as “discrimination programs”.

However, a group of leaders in Australia is instead looking to reap the benefits.

“We see an absolute willingness by Australian companies and organisations to really face into what it means to be an Australian entity – we have a culture of a fair go,” UN Women Australia’s Simone Clarke said.

“I’m confident, based on the conversations that I have on a regular basis with our partners, there is an absolute undeniability that people value diversity in the workplace – that there is an opportunity to it.”

The leadership network unites influential leaders from industries across Australia to foster collaboration and share evidence-based strategies to tackle persistent gender inequality.

Australian women currently earn 78 cents for every dollar a man earns – an average annual difference of $28,425, Workplace Gender Equality Agency data shows.

And despite progress across employers, 79 per cent of workplaces still have gender pay gaps outside the five per cent range.

That’s where the leadership network comes in. 

It aims to bring UN Women’s global insights to Australian workplaces, companies and academia to better understand gender inequality and its impacts on profitability and pay gaps.

“By having a broad cross-sector network, we hope to lift the capability of a range of actors in this space,” Ms Clarke said.

Companies with higher proportions of female board members or senior executives are 27 per cent more likely to financially outperform those with lower proportions, according to UN Women Australia. 

Those with diverse executives are 21 per cent more likely to experience above-average profitability. 

Ms Clarke rejected characterisations of diversity in the workplace as “men versus women”.

“It’s really about balancing out the playing field, but also providing diverse views, because we know in that diversity, we see better results,” she said.

Anthony Albanese will be sworn in as prime minister for the second time alongside a refreshed ministry, as the mining industry welcomes an environment “reset”.

The ceremony will be conducted by Governor-General Sam Mostyn and will take place at Government House on Tuesday morning.

The prime minister unveiled his new front bench on Monday following Labor’s landslide win at the May 3 election.

Mr Albanese labelled the environment as a significant policy area to his reform agenda, as conservation groups push for nature protection laws.

Murray Watt will move to the environment portfolio from employment and workplace relations, replacing Tanya Plibersek.

The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies said Mr Watt’s appointment presented an opportunity to “reset” a portfolio that had confused and frustrated industry.

The Business Council declared it stood ready to help the government ensure environmental protections deliver for both the economy and nature.

Mr Watt’s promotion from agriculture to the environment portfolio was a step in the right direction, the Australian Conservation Foundation said.

“Nature in Australia is under intense pressure and the national nature law is not working,” the foundation’s chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy said.

“The Albanese government went to the 2022 election promising thorough reform of the law. That promise remains unfulfilled. It’s time to get on with the job.

“There can be no more delays, caving to lobby groups and carving out industries: the Albanese government must fix Australia’s nature laws in the first year of this term of parliament.”

But long-time environmental warrior and Greens founder Bob Brown said the appointment represented a regression in environmental protection.

“The only good thing coming out of (Mr) Watt’s appointment is that it will create many more jobs in environmental activism,” he said.

Ms Plibersek has been shifted to social services.

The writing had been on the wall after Mr Albanese went over the top of Ms Plibersek to dump environmental laws after lobbying from West Australian stakeholders.

The most senior ministerial positions in the Albanese government’s second term will largely stay the same, although Mark Dreyfus was dumped as attorney-general following factional dealings.

Anne Aly joins cabinet as the nation’s first Muslim female minister.

Dr Aly’s promotion reflects a greater focus on WA after the state helped deliver Labor a second consecutive federal election win.

The timeless elegance of Carla Zampatti seems a solid bet to begin Australian Fashion Week’s new era.

Not-for-profit peak body the Australian Fashion Council is running the event in 2025, having taken hold of the reins after long-time owners IMG pulled out in late 2024.

Sydney’s week of high style kicked off Monday night with the Zampatti opening runway show at the Museum of Contemporary Art forecourt by the harbour.

The new collection marks 60 years since the Carla Zampatti label was founded in 1965.

An icon of the Australian fashion scene, Zampatti died in 2021 at the age of 78.

The brand returned to Fashion Week last year after a four-year break.

The Zampatti show is the first in a reduced schedule of runways, with the number of shows pared back by about a third on 2024.

But there’s been no reduction in ambition: the stated aim of the event is to reconfirm Australia as a global leader in fashion, creativity and innovation.

That’s against a backdrop of fast fashion and a cost-of-living crisis, when many designers choose to promote their collections via Instagram rather than expensive runway shows.

Still, labels making a return to Fashion Week include not only Zampatti, but also Aje, Romance Was Born, Gary Bigeni and Iordanes Spyridon Gogos.

During its two decades under IMG, the event shifted from targeting overseas buyers to attracting the general public, keen to see ready-to-wear collections available for instant purchase.

That division between industry and the merely fashion-enthused is still evident, with industry delegates invited to shows, and fashion pass holders able to access a public area called The Studio instead.

AFC Australian Fashion Week runs until Friday at Carriageworks in Redfern, Sydney.

David Littleproud has retained his position as leader of the Nationals following a challenge over climate policy but has refused to say whether the party remains committed to net-zero emissions by 2050.

The rural party’s MPs and senators on Monday re-elected Mr Littleproud and backed Kevin Hogan as deputy leader.

Queensland senator Matt Canavan failed to garner sufficient support to claim the leadership after positioning himself as “an agent of change” and urging the coalition to dump its net zero commitment.

Asked whether he was willing to stake his leadership on net zero, Mr Littleproud said policies were not determined solely by the leader.

“I don’t make captain’s calls,” he told reporters.

“I draw on the experience of those in that party room to be able to determine the policies that we take forward.”

Quizzed about whether the party had decided on the target, Mr Littleproud said the Nationals would work through the issue.

“We’re going to review all our policies, and we’ll do that in a calm, methodical way … to make sure we understand the implications of any decisions we make,” he said.

The coalition took a plan to the election to replace the nation’s ageing coal-fired power stations with nuclear reactors.

Mr Littleproud said the fundamentals of nuclear energy had not changed despite the coalition’s election defeat.

“You cannot run an economy of the industrial scale the size of Australia on an all-renewables approach,” he said.

The Nationals’ leadership positions are spilled after every federal election.

A fresh deputy was needed after the party’s former second-in-command Perin Davey lost her Senate seat on May 3.

Senator Davey was still able to vote as she remains a senator – and part of the party room – until July 1.

Bridget McKenzie will lead the minor party in the Senate.

Nationals MP and former leader Michael McCormack earlier backed Mr Littleproud but said the open contest would help clear the air.

Gippsland MP Darren Chester also backed Mr Littleproud and said the party should stick with its nuclear energy policy.

“My position is … we should be doing the work we’ve intended to do, which was have a two-and-a-half-year critical assessment of the seven sites, and to see what’s possible with nuclear in Australia,” he told ABC News.

MPs Colin Boyce and Llew O’Brien, both staunchly opposed to climate targets, backed Senator Canavan ahead of the vote.

The Nationals had one less person in their party room meeting after Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price moved to the Liberal party room.

The Liberals will choose a party leader on Tuesday.

The United States and China have agreed a deal to slash reciprocal tariffs for now as the world’s two biggest economies seek to end a trade war that has disrupted the global outlook and set financial markets on edge.

Speaking after talks with Chinese officials in Geneva, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters on Monday the two sides had agreed on a 90-day pause on measures and that tariffs would come down by more than 100 percentage points to 10 per cent.

“Both countries represented their national interest very well,” Bessent said. 

“We both have an interest in balanced trade, the US will continue moving towards that.”

Bessent was speaking alongside US trade representative Jamieson Greer after the weekend talks in which both sides had hailed progress on narrowing differences.

The Geneva meetings were the first face-to-face interactions between senior US and Chinese economic officials since President Donald Trump returned to power and launched a global tariff blitz, imposing particularly hefty duties on China.

Since taking office in January, Trump has hiked the tariffs paid by US importers for goods from China to 145 per cent, as well as those he imposed on many Chinese goods during his first term and the duties levied by the Biden administration.

China hit back by putting export curbs on some rare earth elements, vital for US manufacturers of weapons and electronic consumer goods, and raising tariffs on US goods to 125 per cent.

The tariff dispute brought nearly $US600 billion ($A933 billion) in two-way trade to a standstill, disrupting supply chains, sparking fears of stagflation and triggering some lay-offs.

Financial markets have been looking out for signs of a thaw in the trade war and Wall Street stock futures climbed and the dollar firmed against safe haven peers on Monday as the talks boosted hopes a global recession might be avoided.

Nationals leader David Littleproud has retained his position after fending off a challenge over climate change.

The Nationals’ 20-member party room on Monday re-elected Mr Littleproud and backed Kevin Hogan as deputy leader.

Queensland senator Matt Canavan had challenged Mr Littleproud for the leadership despite the rural party holding most of its seats at the election.

Positioning himself as “an agent of change”, Senator Canavan had urged the coalition to dump its “ridiculous” net-zero emissions by 2050 target.

“It’s a great honour to lead our great party,” Mr Littleproud said after being re-elected.

“I’m proud of our achievements over the last three years … where I think we set the policy agenda.”

The Nationals’ leadership positions are spilled after every federal election.

A fresh deputy was needed after the party’s former second-in-command Perin Davey lost her seat on May 3.

Senator Davey was still able to vote as she remains a senator – and part of the partyroom – until July 1.

Bridget McKenzie will lead the minor party in the Senate.

Nationals MP and former leader Michael McCormack earlier backed Mr Littleproud, but said the open contest would help clear the air.

Fellow MP Darren Chester also backed Mr Littleproud, saying a case for change hadn’t been made.

“David has done a good job to move us closer to the sensible centre of Australian politics, which is where most of the voters are,” he said.

MPs Colin Boyce and Llew O’Brien backed Senator Canavan ahead of the vote, with both staunchly opposed to climate targets.

The Nationals had one less person in their partyroom meeting after Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price moved to the Liberal party room.

The Liberals will choose a party leader on Tuesday.