The making of Sussan Ley as a federal cabinet minister came a decade ago when she was given a classic hospital pass.

Ley was made the minister for health just seven months after Tony Abbott and his government unveiled a deeply unpopular federal budget in May 2014, with $80 billion in cuts to hospitals and schools.

Sussan Ley with then-prime minister Tony Abbott after she was sworn in as minister for health and minister for sport in 2014.Credit: Andrew Meares

The health minister, Peter Dutton, was shifted out of the portfolio in record time and Ley was brought in to change policy and limit the political damage. It was a thankless task. The Coalition never recovered from that divisive budget, but Ley worked hard to neutralise the problems. After a leadership coup brought Malcolm Turnbull to power, the Coalition narrowly won the 2016 election.

Ley is now dealing with an even uglier hospital pass. She is replacing Dutton, once again, but this time on a near-hopeless political mission. She is being asked to rebuild the Liberal Party, demolish the Labor Party and win the next election. It looks impossible.

There is a real truth to the quip that the first woman to lead the Liberal Party has found her way through the glass........

© Brisbane Times