How Sussan Ley pulled a GUN on a man: Liberal leader reveals staggering incident from her past

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has revealed she was forced to pull a semi–automatic rifle on a man while she was camping in a remote town. 

Ley was confronted by the stranger while she rested during a long drive from Sydney to the rural Queensland town of Thargomindah, about 1,000km from Brisbane. 

She was moving to the small town to work as an aerial stock musterer.

While driving between the rural towns of Nyngan and Narromine in central NSW, Ley pulled over to rest and set-up her swag. 

But it wasn’t long until a man on a motorcycle rode over and approached her.

‘The person lifted the visor on their helmet and said, “Ah, you’re here all by yourself, are you?”,’ Ley told the Australian Women’s Weekly. 

She pulled out her semi–automatic rifle, which she had purchased legally from a gun shop in Queanbeyan, just north of Canberra. 

‘I’m here with my tall skinny mate,’ she said to the man, a line she says was a reference to US action star Clint Eastwood.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley (pictured) pulled a semi–automatic rifle on a man while she was resting in a swag during a long drive between regional towns

Ley (pictured) was confronted by the stranger while she rested during a long drive from Sydney to the rural Queensland town of Thargomindah, about 1,000km from Brisbane 

The weapon wasn’t loaded, but Ley said it had worked to scare the man off.   

‘The gun was literally lying down the side of the sleeping bag, so I was able to pick it up and wave it in the general direction of this individual. I think my hands were shaking so badly,’ she said.

Ley then drove away, with her ‘heart pounding’, to Thargomindah. 

The 63-year-old is on the cover of Australian Women’s Weekly this month. 

In a wide-ranging interview, Ley opened up about her childhood and her mother, Angela Braybrooks, 93, who died just days after she became the Liberal leader. 

She reflected on the emotional toll of her mother’s declining health during her campaign, revealing their final conversation was on a video call. 

Ley said her mother ‘couldn’t really talk’ but she heard what her daughter said. 

Despite being sleep deprived, Ley continued her battle for the Liberal leadership, describing that period as ‘fairly intense’.  

In a wide-ranging interview, Ley opened up about her childhood and her mother, Angela Braybrooks, 93, who died just days after she became the Liberal leader (the pair are pictured)

Following her election to Opposition Leader, Ley rushed to the hospital in Albury, on the NSW and Victorian border, to be with her mother.

‘I held her hand, I talked to her about life and things we’ve been through together, and I hope she hears,’ she told the Sunday Telegraph. 

‘It’s a good opportunity to reflect on all the things that she did in her life, because my mum was a bit of a trailblazer.’ 

Ley won a 29-25 vote against Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor to replace Peter Dutton.

A former commercial pilot, farmer and public servant, she has held the rural seat of Farrer in NSW’s south-west since the retirement of her long-serving predecessor and former National Party leader and deputy prime minister Tim Fischer.

Ley famously changed the spelling of her first name from ‘Susan’ to ‘Sussan’ in her 20s after exploring numerology. 

She believed that adding an extra ‘s’ would make her life ‘incredibly exciting’ and ensure ‘nothing would ever be boring’.

Ley is a mother-of-three and had the support of the party’s moderates, with some believing a woman at the helm will help win back female voters.