Monique Ryan turning her back on Sky News host a spectacular own goal for the Teal movement and its promise to champion women

Sky News AU

26-04-2025

The Teal independents swept into office three years ago on a promise to 'fix' the bloke-heavy culture and give women a voice in federal politics.
Transparency and that ubiquitous deep blue-green remains their self-appointed brand, designed to appeal to female constituents - working mums like me now searching for the right person to vote for on May 3.
So it was a curious message to broadcast this week when one of their much-hyped female MPs avoided an accomplished female journalist in a public space who was politely asking reasonable questions on camera.
In a now viral video, Kooyong member Monique Ryan turned her back in an attempt to dodge a simple 'How are you?' from Sky News host Laura Jayes.
After a brief exchange, she then instructed Ms Jayes to move along because voters apparently now needed her attention before leaving it to a junior staffer to reiterate that an interview opportunity had already been 'declined'.
Don't forget that just weeks ago, Dr Ryan fled from a female Channel Seven reporter inside parliament asking why her husband was ripping down her Liberal opponent's campaign corflutes.
Her patronising rudeness to Ms Jayes at a pre-poll site in Melbourne this week invited the spotlight for all the wrong reasons but mainly, I would argue, for this one.
In a week when women's support for the Coalition was tanking and Labor was doing a better job framing female-focused election policies, the Teals squandered an opportunity to advocate for us.
Labor and the Coalition have always been criticised as having 'a Problem With Women' - in the party or in the community - because they have no idea what matters to female voters.
Indeed, a review of the 2022 Federal Election, co-authored by Liberal Senator Jane Hume and former federal director of the Liberal Party Brian Loughnane, noted: 'Liberal defectors in 'Teal seats' were highly likely to agree with the statement that 'the treatment or attitude toward women within the Liberal Party had a strong influence on my vote'.'
I would argue that the Women Problem own goal is now well and truly in the Climate 200-backed Teal net, along with their glossy branding.
These independents have had plenty of opportunity to flex their female power but in reality they have failed to deliver any meaningful policy outcomes for women.
Nothing tangible on childcare reform or the pressure of small business where so many women work and the Big One: cost-of-living relief. Crickets.
How do you 'redefine' leadership for women when your appeal is marinating in privilege?
Sure.
It's another federal election and therefore another scramble for the female vote, especially with pre poll numbers so high.
And Labor sure is doing everything it can to frame the Coalition as out of touch and regressive, despite the TV debate sting of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton telling PM Anthony Albanese that he 'couldn't lie straight in bed'.
But Labor, now ahead among women 54 to 46 points via the latest Newspoll for The Australian which was a staggering reversal from numbers in January, has filled the void.
And credit where it is due, especially regarding the pledge made this week by Minister for Women Katy Gallagher to end the vile and all too frequent financial abuse of women by fixing loopholes in tax, social security and superannuation.
This is a key area where women feel no one in government has been listening.
'We will take action to legislate practical changes in the superannuation, tax and social security systems so they cannot be weaponised by perpetrators,' Ms Gallagher said.
'We will look at how we can stop abusers receiving their victim's superannuation because there is no world where we believe that perpetrators of violence should benefit from the death of someone they themselves have abused.'
Interestingly, the Labor's Commitment to Women package was unveiled a day after Mr Dutton, no doubt wounded by that evaporating female support, said he would announce more domestic violence initiatives.
'The whole area of protecting women and children is incredibly important to me,' Mr Dutton said.
He has leaned on his police past to show he is serious about women's safety and on Thursday, the Coalition said it would tackle domestic violence nationally via a $90 million 'comprehensive package'.
Framing it as 'a very clear message that we don't accept violence against women', Mr Dutton added that 'we're going to fix up Labor's mess'.
No matter how critically important these issues are though, how much faith should female voters have in any of these promises?
A woman in an abusive relationship might now think that her life is about to change, only to be told in a few months: sorry, we don't have the cash for that.
Teals, as architects of virtue signalling, have sold women voters a fantasy of politics.
They may talk a big game but where is the follow through?
We only want answers to the hard questions and to cast our vote where we know it will matter.
Louise Roberts is a journalist and editor who has worked as a TV and radio commentator in Australia, the UK and the US. Louise is a winner of the Peter Ruehl Award for Outstanding Columnist in the NRMA Kennedy Awards for Excellence in Journalism and has been shortlisted in other awards for her opinion work.