Sussan Ley says she is an ‘absolute zealot' for more women in Liberal Party but has not committed to introducing quotas
Liberal leader Sussan Ley says she is an 'absolute zealot' for increasing female representation in the party but has refused to endorse gender quotas after two senior Liberal women hinted the party could reconsider the measure.
Ms Ley was asked on Friday morning whether the party was facing extinction over internal party division on efforts to increase the number of women in the parliamentary party.
'It's a stark reality that when I walk into the parliament on the first day, I'll be sitting there as the leader opposite the Prime Minister, there will be five Liberal women sitting behind me, and that's a real call to action. So there's not division across our party,' Ms Ley said.
'We must get more women in our ranks, preselected in winnable seats in the lead-up to the next election.'
Ms Ley said she was 'agnostic' about how the party got more women into its ranks but 'an absolute zealot that we make it happen'.
It comes after South Australian senator Anne Ruston opened the door to using gender quotas, saying the party can 'no longer rule out the temporary use of quotas as an option'.
Ms Ruston had previously rejected gender quotas in 2021 but said given that the party had not met its targets, other measures had to be considered.
'We must encourage more women to join the Liberal Party, and we must get Liberal women into the parliament,' Ms Ruston said.
Coalition women spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh also hinted that the party should consider quotas.
'We shouldn't be closing the door to any possible work to be done within the party, whether they are quotas or targets … but the work should be done and then we can have an evidence-based position on whether we should be adopting quotas.'
Ms Ley was grilled on Thursday morning about whether senior male figures in the party – including Tony Abbott and Angus Taylor – who were opposed to quotas were part of the problem.
'So some of our strongest advocates are the men in the party, and I know that we as a parliamentary team want to get this right, and I've seen some great approaches by the men in the party in mentoring women to come into our party,' Ms Ley said.
Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor was asked on Friday morning for his position on quotas and gave a hard no.
'I have never been a supporter of quotas,' Mr Taylor said.
'Because I don't believe in subverting democratic processes. The Labor Party does, we traditionally haven't in the Liberal Party. I think there's better ways of achieving this. I have found that in my own professional career.'
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Sydney Morning Herald
32 minutes ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Ley's party numbers do not inspire confidence
We'll see how Sussan Ley goes over time trying to fix the paucity of women serving in, or even voting for, her party (' Are we ready for another female PM? ' , June 27). But I can't help remembering she won the Liberal leadership by just four votes, one of which (it turns out) shouldn't have been there, two more won't be there after June 30 and the fourth was (presumably) her own. Maybe she's since won over quite a few who voted for Angus Taylor. I hope so. But she's got a big job keeping whatever parliamentary backing she now has while lifting overall voter support far above its current pathetic level. If our democracy is to avoid the tarnish that afflicts the systems operating in places such as the US and Israel, a solid alternative is a must to give voters a viable option. And if she can achieve that at least, she will have done well. Adrian Connelly, Springwood The question should be: Is the Liberal Party ready to give female Opposition Leader Sussan Ley the chance to lead the party into the election? Voters are always ready, if you go by history. Sirimavo Bandaranaike (Sri Lanka) was the world's first female prime minister in 1960, after her husband was assassinated; Indira Gandhi in India in 1966; then Golda Meir in Israel in 1969 and so on. Ley is also vague when asked about the quota for female representation: yes, but she says all Liberal states have their own democratic way of electing candidates. It is a code word for saying that she doesn't want to take on the Liberal 'heavyweights'. It'd be interesting to see if Liberals are ready to change. Mukul Desai, Hunters Hill One thing Sussan Ley can be certain of is that, from the current government, she will never have to face the disgusting and obscene treatment Julia Gillard was subjected to by the Abbott government and certain members of the media. 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'Immigration causes no net change in people flows' is the specious 'Big Australia' argument, showing either a catastrophic misunderstanding of a hugely complex problem, or more likely, a deliberate deception. Meanwhile, our pursuit of net zero is increasingly absurd. To stop climate change, net zero must be achieved across the world. Instead, Australia is busy flogging fossil fuels, trashing the net zero aspirations of other countries while pretending our achieving net zero occurs in a vacuum, just like our immigration intake. Net zero has become a Labor Party front for business as usual, ie: never-ending growth. It is sending our pollution offshore, driving up the world's population powered with fossil fuels, all while pretending to be cleanskins at home. 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Some gentle discussion about the approaching state budget, some well-meaning advice for federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers about tax reform, discussion about whether dog cafes are a sign of the decay of civilisation or the impending apocalypse (probably the decay) and, on a lighter note, a letter from a reader sick of humans who wants to transition to being an emu. Then, of course, Trump happened, as he so often does these days, bombing Iran and setting the world to sixes and sevens again. This did not endear POTUS to the majority of writers. Some writers, yes, thought the bombing could, possibly, be a good thing, mainly because the Iranian government is not one that the world wants to be equipped with nuclear weapons. Most writers, however, thought it was Trump throwing a tantie because his big, beautiful army parade had been ridiculed and hardly anyone had turned up anyway. So he now wanted revenge by bombing a country that wasn't going to bomb back. 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Sad news at the end of the week was the death, at 85 after a battle with Parkinson's disease, of long-time correspondent Joan Brown of Orange. She wrote over 500 letters and was last published on May 24.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Aussie Super sector breathes sigh of relief after Trump administration axes ‘revenge' tax
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ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Jeff McCloy, former Newcastle lord mayor and businessman, dies age 75
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