Ley reveals terrifying outback encounter

Yahoo

2 days ago

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has revealed a terrifying encounter she had as a young woman, pulling a gun on a man who threatened her while travelling alone through rural Australia.
Leaving behind a job in air traffic control and a flat on Sydney's Coogee Beach, Ms Ley said she landed a job in outback Queensland to chase her dream of flying.
'I didn't want to talk to the planes, I wanted to fly them,' she told 10News+.
'I got a few calls, one from a shearing contractor in Thargomindah.'
Setting off for the journey alone in her Holden, Ms Ley said her father taught her how to safely use a gun.
'I'm a girl, travelling on my own, I swung through the gun shop in Queanbeyan and bought a rifle,' she told the program.
'The owner of the gun shop said, 'this will suit you because you can fit it under the seat''
One night, while camped beside a remote road, she was woken by a man.
'I set up my swag, boiled my billy and looked up at the brilliant night stars and went to sleep and I just tucked the unloaded gun next to me in the swag,' she said.
'When bright lights shone in my eyes at probably about 2 o'clock in the morning with a motorcyclist. I remember the visor lifted up … looking around 'You on your own are you?'
'A line came to me, I think from a Clint Eastwood movie, 'No, I'm here with my tall skinny mate'.
'By that time I was shaking. I managed to effectively pick up the gun, point it in his direction and he disappeared very quickly. So did I, I packed up and left. I thought, this is crazy.'
Ms Ley said while the encounter was terrifying, it didn't shake her love for remote Australia.
'It wasn't the introduction to the real rural Australia that I should have had but soon after I came to meet the incredible people and communities that live in our rural and remote parts,' she said.
'When, as I said, I get up and work hard for Australians, I often have those Australians in mind.'
Now the leader of the Liberal Party, Ms Ley says women's safety remains a top priority.
'A lot of women raised the issue of safety. I said at my Press Club speech I will always put the safety of women and children above politics,' she said.
'It's an anxiety that is building and that worries me.
'I want women to be safe and it's important that we, and I, as a female leader, make clear that's a high priority for me.'