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Ex-Liberal leader Sussan Ley says multicultural Australia is a success compared to the ‘disconnect’ she saw on Greyhound bus trip across the US
Sussan Ley, who resigned as Australian Liberal leader after being ousted by Angus Taylor, has given her first interview since leaving politics, describing a Greyhound bus trip across the United States that left her struck by a deep public "disconnect" from institutions and government. Travelling incognito from North Dakota to Texas, she said the experience reinforced her belief that Australia's multicultural model, which she credits with giving different communities space to belong rather than erasing their differences, has succeeded where America has not, offering a pointed contrast as One Nation's influence grows in her own former electorate.
Speaking to the ABC's 7.30 programme with Sarah Ferguson, Ley said she had expected to find strong national pride but instead encountered widespread disinterest and estrangement between ordinary Americans and the institutions meant to represent them, meeting vagrants, ranchers, nuns and ex-prisoners along the way. Asked about Pauline Hanson's call for a "monoculture" to replace multiculturalism, Ley said she saw US communities sitting "uncomfortably alongside each other" rather than blending as they do in Australia, while cautioning against drawing direct parallels between the two countries. Her journey took her from snowy North Dakota to a queue in Amarillo that felt like immigration detention, and finally to Donald Trump's border wall in southern Texas, where a guard told her there was little to see and photography was banned.
In short
- Sussan Ley's first interview since quitting as Liberal leader
- Greyhound trip across US revealed "disconnect" from institutions
- She says Australian multiculturalism outperforms US community relations
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Australia's inclusive multicultural approach, which preserves cultural identities whilst fostering shared civic belonging, has demonstrably created more integrated communities than the fragmentation evident in America. Ley's observations of institutional disconnect and communities sitting uneasily alongside one another suggest that assimilationist or monocultural models fail to provide genuine belonging, whereas Australia's explicit validation of diverse communities builds stronger social cohesion and reduces the alienation she witnessed.
The case against
Ley's brief anecdotal observations from a Greyhound trip provide insufficient evidence for comparing two complex nations' approaches to diversity, since the institutional 'disconnect' she observed likely stems from economic inequality, political polarisation, and institutional distrust rather than multiculturalism itself. Australia faces its own substantial integration challenges and discrimination that such a curated journey would not reveal, and attributing social outcomes primarily to multicultural policy design overlooks how geography, economic opportunity, historical legacies, and other institutional factors shape community cohesion in both countries.
Explained simply
Australia’s Liberal Party is a centre-right political party, and Sussan Ley was its leader before being replaced by Angus Taylor. Her former electorate is an area she represented in parliament. One Nation, led by Pauline Hanson, is a separate party that has campaigned for Australia to become less culturally diverse.
Multiculturalism describes a society where people from different cultural backgrounds can belong while keeping parts of their distinct identities. The idea is debated in Australia, including against calls for a more uniform national culture. The United States has its own history of immigration and debates about national identity, so comparisons between the two countries need to account for their different circumstances.