Woman's cheeky sledge to Dutton

Perth Now

05-05-2025

A young woman has delivered a brutal blow to Peter Dutton just days after his crushing defeat in the federal election.
Appearing in the audience of ABC's Q&A on Monday night, just days after the Albanese government was re-elected with a substantially increased majority, the audience member questioned what elected leaders were doing for women and girls.
While questioning panellists - Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Nationals' Bridget McKenzie and George Brandis - she delivered a cheeky jab at Dutton for the amount of times he visited petrol stations while failing to mention a policy that would specifically benefit women. The young woman slammed Dutton for visiting 17 petrol stations durign the campaign. ABC Credit: NewsWire
'We know Peter Dutton visited 17 petrol stations along his campaign trail but at the same time didn't release a single policy on women specifically,' she said.
McKenzie argued a lot of the Coalition policies would benefit both women and men.
'Women also fill up the car and go to petrol stations,' she said.
'Women are on the front-line of the cost of living crisis. They're the ones that are embarrassed usually having to work two jobs to actually get the school fees paid or the soccer fees. They're the ones having to put things back out of the shopping trolley in front of everyone because they can't afford it.'
She did say she would like to see a time 'when women's policy doesn't equal and equate to childcare policy'.
'That will be a real step forward for this country when we're not saying all, a pink book with some ovaries on the front of it constitutes a women's policy.'
Women's place in politics was a big topic of the night, with another young woman questioning 'how we can ensure that there is a greater representation of women across all political parties'.
The questions come as Australia prepares to see a record number of women who will represent Australians in the next term of government, with female MPs set to soar between 66 and 74 out of a total 150 seats.
The figure is a considerable uptick from the then record-breaking 58 women who were elected to the 47th parliament, while just 40 women were elected under the Morrison-led 46th parliament in 2019. Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie appeared on the show, arguging policies benefitted both women and men. ABC Credit: NewsWire
In the House of Representative, Labor has increased its female representation to 47 MPs out of a confirmed 87, meaning the number of female MPs outnumbers male MPs (40).
Meanwhile, the Coalition has seven female MPs out 39, a decrease from its 2022 result of nine.
The drop in numbers is largely due to the election losses of former Hughes MP Jenny Ware and Bass MP Bridget Archer, and the retirements of McPherson MP Karen Andrews and Forrest MP Nola Marino.
While the safe Liberal seats of McPherson and Forrest were retained by the Coalition, candidates preselected for the seats were both male.
Seven of the 10 confirmed independents set to enter parliament this term are also women, including Fowler MP Dai Le, Mackellar MP Sophie Scamps, Warringah MP Zali Steggall, Wentworth MP Allegra Spender, Mayo MP Rebekha Spender, Indi MP Helen Haines and Curtin MP Kate Chaney.
Speaking to the ABC, retired Liberal senator Linda Reynolds said a lack of gender diversity – a long-running issue in the party – was one of the reasons for the Liberals' crushing loss.
However despite previous probs into gender representation, the reviews have just 'sat on a shelf'.
Ms Reynolds said the party needed to have 'hard conversations' into how it increases gender diversity in the party.
'Quite frequently women get pre-selected into seats that are very difficult to win, so when they do win they're the first to lose when there's an electoral swing,' she said.
'As a party, we've been slow to understand that women bring great benefits to the party, women are fabulous local members.'