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The Guardian
03-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Frontbencher proposes alternative to quotas as Liberal party agonises over gender imbalance
The Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has called for the party to consider gender-balanced candidate pools as an alternative to quotas, as close to 100 women took part in a nearly three-hour meeting on Wednesday night on building gender diversity in the opposition. Party insiders in New South Wales say support for quotas is building, but any major reform to match Labor's rules first introduced in the mid-1990s is likely to take years. McIntosh, the shadow women's minister, wrote to the NSW Women's Council president, Berenice Walker, this week, urging the discussion not be reduced to a yes or no on quotas. 'Strong systems help open the door, but it is the party's culture that determines whether women stay, thrive, and reach the heights of leadership and success,' McIntosh wrote. She said she was open to quotas or some other mechanism for change, but warned addressing the party's culture needed to come first. 'A structural re-design might consider gender-balanced candidate pools to ensure equality of opportunity – consistent with our values – rather than prescribing outcomes. 'We should also examine leadership pipelines, mentorship initiatives, and other evidence-based mechanisms that reflect our principles. Culture and structure must evolve together.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email A candidate pool model would be similar to the 'A-list' of candidates for preselections introduced in Britain's Conservative party by the former prime minister David Cameron. Cameron put a freeze on candidate selection and introduced a priority list, with half of the list to be female and a large number to be from minority backgrounds. At Wednesday's meeting the council did not settle on a model for change or next steps, but participants said there was majority support for quotas and other significant changes. The NSW Young Liberals have called for a candidate pool model, and reiterated their support for it at their last meeting in May, following the federal election. Before this week's meeting, Walker said there would be an 'open discussion' of quotas. Those in the meeting said a majority of the participants, diverse in age, were in favour of quotas, with only a few speaking against them. One senior party member said there was 'no rush' to put forward a model. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion They said it was unlikely that quotas, which would need to be added to the NSW Liberal constitution, and voted on by its state council, would be in place by the next state election in 2027. 'We're a long way away from it, because the structure is difficult,' they said. The federal leader, Sussan Ley, has said she is 'agnostic' on the party's approach to change, but told the National Press Club in June she was a 'zealot' on recruiting more women. The frontbencher Angus Taylor, who Ley defeated for the leadership, has publicly opposed quotas, and said it would 'subvert democratic processes', pointing instead towards more mentorship within the party. Vocal supporters for quotas, including the NSW senator Maria Kovacic, have called for more immediate action. Kovacic said she would support temporary quotas with a sunset period, and firm expiry date, to get more Liberal members over the line. 'Achieving this goal will likely take two election cycles … Once that balance is reached, we can return to the existing system with confidence that equity has been successfully embedded,' she said. 'A sunset clause would be an appropriate mechanism to ensure the temporary nature of a quota system.'
The Guardian
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Liberal figures push for expiry dates on gender quotas in bid to win party support
Liberals pushing for changes to party rules to boost female representation in parliament will propose gender quotas with enforceable expiry dates, in a bid to win the broadest possible support for the plan. Wednesday night's meeting of the NSW Liberal Women's Council is set to include preliminary discussions about gender quotas for party preselections, days after the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said she was open to rule changes. Proponents of quotas, including the NSW senator Maria Kovacic, say sunset provisions to remove preferential treatment for women must be included in any rule change. The new House of Representatives will include just six Liberal women, a level of gender diversity not seen since the Howard era. The president of the council, Berenice Walker, said practical solutions to bring in more women were urgently needed. 'Men are just not going to give up their power and that's where it needs to be mandated,' she said. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Walker warned 'review points' would be required for any quota plan to assess their effectiveness after certain thresholds were met. 'I've noticed that there are more people coming on board to discuss the potential for quotas. They do want to look at solutions.' Kovacic said any quota rules would take multiple electoral cycles to be effective, and would require the support of state and territory divisions. 'Our goal must be genuine gender parity, with equal numbers of men and women contesting both marginal and safe seats,' she said. 'Achieving this goal will likely take two election cycles. 'Once that balance is reached, we can return to the existing system with confidence that equity has been successfully embedded. A sunset clause would be an appropriate mechanism to ensure the temporary nature of a quota system.' The senior Liberal frontbencher Angus Taylor and the former prime minister Tony Abbott are among the high-profile opponents of quotas. Taylor has said they 'subvert democratic processes' and has called for more mentoring of women as a measure to improve representation. The federal Liberal vice-president and former MP Fiona Scott said quotas 'could be a solution', provided they were part of a suite of changes. 'We need more pathways and organisations for women to inspire professional women to join,' she said. The shadow minister for women, Melissa McIntosh, said the quotas debate oversimplified the issue. She called for the review into the party's future, established after its devastating federal election defeat, to consider a range of mechanisms, including mentorship, pathways and quotas. 'The review must first and foremost, when it comes to women, look at addressing the culture of the Liberal party because you could have all the quotas in the world but that won't make any difference if the cultural issues aren't fixed,' McIntosh said. 'We need to reflect, attract and support women – in our communities, within our party and the parliament. There is no question the Liberal party needs greater female representation.' The newly elected NSW Liberal senator Jess Collins said quotas were a bad idea, and ignored the many women who were preselected without preferential rules. 'I think that is a complete slap in the face for all of those terrific women, and I think it'll take the party backwards,' she said. 'I see gender quotas being weaponised as a means of consolidating factional power. We are trying now to move the New South Wales division out of that factional maelstrom, and I see gender quotas as a way to hold on to that power for those people at the top.' The NSW Young Liberals president, Georgia Lowden, said party members were open to trying new approaches, because 'things aren't getting better'. 'We need structural and cultural reform to recruit, mentor and promote more women. We should look at quotas as a temporary measure to level the playing field while we build lasting change.' 'We need to show women across the country that there's a place for them in the Liberal party.'
