Ley rebukes ex-president's comment on ‘assertive' women in Lib ranks

AU Financial Review

04-06-2025

Former federal Liberal Party president Alan Stockdale told a meeting of female members in NSW that women were 'assertive' and suggested male members may need to be protected.
Stockdale, a member of a three-person federal panel appointed to run the NSW Liberal Party, said the remark – made to a meeting of the NSW Liberal Women's Council on Tuesday evening – was a joke and expressed regret that 'people felt disrespected'.
But it drew a rebuke from federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, the first female leader of the parliamentary party, who issued a statement shortly after Stockdale's comments were reported.
'There is nothing wrong with being an assertive woman, in fact I encourage assertive women to join the Liberal Party,' the statement said.
'The Liberal Party must reflect, respect and represent modern Australia and that means recognising the strength, merit and leadership of the women in our ranks.'
Stockdale, a former treasurer of Victoria, along with the two other members of the administrative committee, Victorian Richard Alston and Peta Seaton from NSW attended the women's council meeting to discuss consultation on a new constitution for NSW which they hope will reverse the party's membership decline.
The trio, appointed in September after the NSW party's failure to nominate dozens of candidates for local council elections, wants to stay on beyond the June 30 expiry date of the federal takeover of the party to change the constitution.
On Tuesday evening at women's council the admin committee faced a barrage of questions, including one on the importance of women's representation in the party and quotas, multiple attendees told The Australian Financial Review.
Four sources, granted anonymity due to the party's ban on discussing internal matters, confirmed that Stockdale responded by labelling women 'assertive'.
'Alan Stockdale suggested that women of the party were getting a little bit too assertive, and he was worried we might get into the position that we need reverse quotas,' said one attendee, who took a contemporaneous note of the remark.
'If it was a joke then he misread the room – the response was disbelief.'
A second Liberal source who took a contemporaneous note said Stockdale replied: 'I think women are sufficiently assertive now that we should be giving some thought to whether we need to protect men's involvement.'