Latest news with #NSWLiberals
The Age
6 days ago
- General
- The Age
How to annoy Liberal women. Tell them they are ‘sufficiently assertive'
With the Liberal Party's founding father looming over their shoulder – quite literally – two octogenarian men from Victoria thought it wise to lecture women on the future of the NSW party. Women are now 'sufficiently assertive' in the Liberal Party, ex-Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale bemoaned, that it is probably time to start giving blokes a leg up. Stockdale and former Victorian senator Richard Alston, combined age 164, positioned themselves under a portrait of Robert Menzies as they fronted the NSW Liberal Women's Council on Tuesday night to argue why they should continue to run the troubled division. The sole female and NSW representative on the federal takeover committee, appointed by former leader Peter Dutton, is Peta Seaton, who was seemingly the third wheel as Stockdale held court, reminding the NSW Liberals exactly why they still have a women's problem. 'Women are sufficiently assertive now,' Stockdale told the virtual meeting of at least 50 women, 'that we should be giving some thought to whether we need to protect men's involvement'. Great idea. Reverse quotas for men. If it were not so ludicrous and offensive, it would be comical. A brief look back to why Stockdale and Co are running NSW. Dutton imposed a federal takeover on the NSW Liberals after the embarrassing debacle of the party failing to nominate 144 candidates for last year's local government elections. The trio (which was initially going to be all men until wiser heads prevailed) was sent in to clean up the mess and help NSW secure an election win for the Liberals. They have failed to do either. Now the administrators are arguing for an extension of their term, which was due to expire on June 30. After his comment, which followed discussion over whether he would commit to quotas to get more Liberal women preselected, Stockdale chuckled, according to several women who were on the call. But if it was meant as a joke, Stockdale did not read the room. These women were already angry. Now they are positively apoplectic. Charlotte Mortlock, a former journalist and Liberal staffer who founded Hilma's Network, which supports women for Liberal preselection, last month launched a petition calling on the party to establish gender quotas. 'Women in the party and across the country more broadly have been demanding the Liberal Party improves its female representation for decades,' Mortlock wrote. 'We have failed to act.' As of Wednesday, the petition had 449 signatures.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
How to annoy Liberal women. Tell them they are ‘sufficiently assertive'
With the Liberal Party's founding father looming over their shoulder – quite literally – two octogenarian men from Victoria thought it wise to lecture women on the future of the NSW party. Women are now 'sufficiently assertive' in the Liberal Party, ex-Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale bemoaned, that it is probably time to start giving blokes a leg up. Stockdale and former Victorian senator Richard Alston, combined age 164, positioned themselves under a portrait of Robert Menzies as they fronted the NSW Liberal Women's Council on Tuesday night to argue why they should continue to run the troubled division. The sole female and NSW representative on the federal takeover committee, appointed by former leader Peter Dutton, is Peta Seaton, who was seemingly the third wheel as Stockdale held court, reminding the NSW Liberals exactly why they still have a women's problem. 'Women are sufficiently assertive now,' Stockdale told the virtual meeting of at least 50 women, 'that we should be giving some thought to whether we need to protect men's involvement'. Great idea. Reverse quotas for men. If it were not so ludicrous and offensive, it would be comical. A brief look back to why Stockdale and Co are running NSW. Dutton imposed a federal takeover on the NSW Liberals after the embarrassing debacle of the party failing to nominate 144 candidates for last year's local government elections. The trio (which was initially going to be all men until wiser heads prevailed) was sent in to clean up the mess and help NSW secure an election win for the Liberals. They have failed to do either. Now the administrators are arguing for an extension of their term, which was due to expire on June 30. After his comment, which followed discussion over whether he would commit to quotas to get more Liberal women preselected, Stockdale chuckled, according to several women who were on the call. But if it was meant as a joke, Stockdale did not read the room. These women were already angry. Now they are positively apoplectic. Charlotte Mortlock, a former journalist and Liberal staffer who founded Hilma's Network, which supports women for Liberal preselection, last month launched a petition calling on the party to establish gender quotas. 'Women in the party and across the country more broadly have been demanding the Liberal Party improves its female representation for decades,' Mortlock wrote. 'We have failed to act.' As of Wednesday, the petition had 449 signatures.
AU Financial Review
14-05-2025
- Business
- AU Financial Review
ASX to fall, Wall St wavers after rally
Australian shares are set to open lower, reflecting a lack of further catalysts that have fuelled a stunning global equities rally on easing trade tensions. There's rising expectation among strategists that markets have run a bit too far too fast. While market sentiment has improved with President Donald Trump's tariff policy pivots, Goldman Sachs' Peter Oppenheimer said 'equity valuations are high, particularly in the US, and earnings growth is likely to be moderate, leaving equities at risk of a further setback if recession fears resurface on the back of deteriorating hard data. 'Given these risks, our strongest conviction remains to be diversified across regions. We also favour companies across sectors with the ability to maintain pricing power and margins and recommend strategies that combine value with growth compounders as another way to diversify to enhance risk-adjusted returns.' A key reason for the rally from the year's lows has been a return of the artificial intelligence trade, with President Donald Trump this week giving the green light for US tech to sell their products to Saudi Arabia. 'We believe the market opportunity in Saudi Arabia could over time add another $US1 trillion to the broader global AI market in the coming years and this dynamic is not being priced into the market and tech names in our view,' Wedbush Securities said in a note. Market highlights ASX futures are pointing down 40 points or 0.5 per cent to 8267. All US prices are as of 2.25pm New York time. Today's agenda Xero and Graincorp are set to report results on Thursday morning. Ampol, oOh!media and Resolute Mining will host annual shareholder meetings today. At 11.30am, April's labour force data will be released. In a note, NAB said it expects the unemployment rate to remain at 4.1 per cent on a 25,000 employment gain in April. 'Monthly employment data is volatile, but trend employment growth has slowed recently even as the unemployment rate has been little changed,' NAB also said. 'Reconciling that tension is a fallback in participation from its recent record high. The RBA forecast an unemployment rate steady at 4.2 per cent from Q2. We think the risk is to the high side of that forecast later this year.' Overseas the focus will be on US April retail sales, PPI and weekly initial jobless claims data. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell is set to speak, at 10.40pm AEST, on the central bank's five-yearly review of monetary policy strategy. Top stories Macquarie's three lines of defence caught short on reporting | Just two months after the 2009 implementation of controls for trade volume checks, things started to go awry. Go back to Melbourne': NSW Liberals call to end intervention | Sussan Ley and Mark Speakman are under pressure to end federal intervention in the NSW Liberals after the party's disastrous national poll result. Chanticleer: Disclosure doozy makes a mockery of Australia's safe-haven fantasy | If you told a private-equity suitor about a regulatory headache, but not shareholders, was the event disclosable or not? A 15 per cent share price drop says Mayne Pharma got this one wrong. Trump goes for gold in the Middle East | The US president's visit to the region is focused on the money that's on offer. Israel and Gaza are not part of the equation for instant returns, writes Jennifer Hewett.
Sydney Morning Herald
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
We can have democracy without the plastic waste
They say the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. In Australia, it seems the price of democracy is tonnes of plastic rubbish that is not eternal but may as well be. I'm talking about corflutes, those ubiquitous signs featuring beaming politicians and wannabes that dominate our suburbs and towns during elections. A rough and ready estimate suggests that a federal election generates at least a million of these signs – and it is becoming a problem. My numbers are based on intel from a Sydney printer who worked for two candidates in the recent federal election and asked to remain anonymous. He shared that each campaign ordered 2000 corflutes apiece. Now, some candidates might use more, and others less. But if five candidates in 140 seats – which excludes the 10 South Australian seats where public election signage is now banned – order, say, 1500 corflutes each, that is more than a million. The signs are fully recyclable, but that doesn't mean they are fully recycled. In fact, they're already turning up in landfill. This masthead has obtained a photo of a truck emblazoned with the livery of Liberal candidate James Brown dumping his corflutes at a Sydney tip. Brown ran unsuccessfully against teal independent Sophie Scamps. A spokesperson for the NSW Liberals said the party ran a recycling campaign and candidates were supplied with information after the election. A spokesperson for the Brown campaign said they followed the advice of their local waste facility.
The Age
14-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
We can have democracy without the plastic waste
They say the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. In Australia, it seems the price of democracy is tonnes of plastic rubbish that is not eternal but may as well be. I'm talking about corflutes, those ubiquitous signs featuring beaming politicians and wannabes that dominate our suburbs and towns during elections. A rough and ready estimate suggests that a federal election generates at least a million of these signs – and it is becoming a problem. My numbers are based on intel from a Sydney printer who worked for two candidates in the recent federal election and asked to remain anonymous. He shared that each campaign ordered 2000 corflutes apiece. Now, some candidates might use more, and others less. But if five candidates in 140 seats – which excludes the 10 South Australian seats where public election signage is now banned – order, say, 1500 corflutes each, that is more than a million. The signs are fully recyclable, but that doesn't mean they are fully recycled. In fact, they're already turning up in landfill. This masthead has obtained a photo of a truck emblazoned with the livery of Liberal candidate James Brown dumping his corflutes at a Sydney tip. Brown ran unsuccessfully against teal independent Sophie Scamps. A spokesperson for the NSW Liberals said the party ran a recycling campaign and candidates were supplied with information after the election. A spokesperson for the Brown campaign said they followed the advice of their local waste facility.
