Latest news with #femaleRepresentation
News.com.au
10-07-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
‘Not important': Liberal leader Sussan Ley dismisses quota criticism in pitch to women
Opposition leader Sussan Ley has dismissed backlash to calls for a gender quota within the Liberal Party as not 'important', as she pitched 'vital' policy changes for women. It comes after reports former Liberal Party vice president Teena McQueen described the organiser of a NSW Liberal Party branch petition for a gender quota as a 'moron'. Asked about the comment and backlash within the NSW Liberals to the idea of a quota, Ms Ley told reporters on Thursday she 'didn't actually think that's important'. 'I'm not going to go into the descriptions that may or may not have been given to certain points of view … What I welcome is the constructive debate,' Ms Ley said. 'I will make it clear every single day that we do need to improve, increase female representation in our party and that means through the pre-selection processes and in our parliament. 'Now, the Liberal Party state divisions have the final responsibility for that. So I welcome any ideas they may put forward. 'I'm agnostic about what those methods may be, but I am an absolute zealot that we have higher female representations and that we reflect the role of women in our party and in our policies.' The new Liberal leader has not specifically endorsed or disendorsed introducing gender quotas in her quest to recruit more women to the party. Ms Ley met with about 30 women business and community leaders on Thursday, which she said would help inform the party's future policies. She told reporters it was critical the party listen to women following its bruising loss at the federal election in May. 'It is absolutely vital we fix our policies going forward,' Ms Ley said. Asked about what policy changes the party was willing to consider, Ms Ley said they were still under review. 'Lots of policies are being raised and it's important that in this listening phase, I remind people that our policies are under review, and that's important because we got smashed at the last election, and we need to examine those policies,' she said. 'Shadow ministers will be doing that work, and then we need to continue to consult, to engage, and most importantly, to listen.' Ms Ley said they had received 'terrific feedback' on Thursday, with women voicing concerns especially around cost of living and childcare. 'I know what the struggle is when you feel like you have to do so much, but you can't achieve it all,' she said. 'Women often take that burden on the caring responsibilities of responsibilities in the home. 'The statistics tell us that it is still women who are doing all of those things, and that's why we need women's policies, and that will be very prominent in the policy development that we undertake.'
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Gender balance in Liberal party should be based on ‘merit' not ‘quotas', says new senator Jess Collins
Newly elected Liberal senator Jess Collins has hit out at factional bosses and leakers within the party's NSW branch, insisting a push for quotas to boost female representation is the wrong approach for trying to beat Labor at the next election. Aligned with senior frontbencher Angus Taylor and state MP and factional force Anthony Roberts, Collins was elected to the upper house on 3 May, after beating senator Hollie Hughes for preselection. A former Lowy Institute research fellow, Collins used an email to constituents on Tuesday night to describe the Coalition's election defeat as 'devastating,' arguing more women would have been elected if campaign strategists and former leader Peter Dutton had done a better job. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email As Dutton's successor Sussan Ley pushes for reform of the party, and some moderates advocate for binding quotas, Collins criticised leakers who publicised comments from party figure Alan Stockdale suggesting Liberal women were 'sufficiently assertive' and that quotas for men might need to be considered. 'I am tired of factional hacks trying to weaponise the constitution to consolidate or hold on to power,' Collins wrote in the email seen by Guardian Australia. 'We are not going to find our way out of the wilderness if we can't change the status quo.' She said the leaking of the comments made in a meeting of the NSW Women's Council was disappointing, explaining she had met Stockdale and the party's administrative committee with ideas on how to improve the outcomes for women. 'If he suggested women were sufficiently assertive perhaps I am to blame.' Collins then wrote: 'Sorry, bad joke – please don't leak it!' The only newly elected Coalition senator, she conceded she was so low on the pecking order that she has 'no one to peck'. Ahead of a discussion about quota models in a special meeting on Wednesday night, Collins said there was more work to do to encourage women to run for parliament. 'That is the ongoing and big task ahead of us all. I was fortunate to have mentors like Anthony Roberts and Angus Taylor. 'If I can help other women like they have helped me then I'm confident we can achieve gender balance with merit in parliament. Not with quotas.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Party activist Charlotte Mortlock, founder of Hilma's Network which advocates for better female representation in the Liberal party, said quotas should be considered. 'I look forward to Jess' contribution to our democracy. I am sure she will do a great job, but I disagree with her on quotas. 'I am frustrated by the continual use of the word 'merit' which never seems to come up when questioning men's capabilities.' Moderates pushing for changes to party rules have proposed gender quotas be introduced with enforceable expiry dates, in a bid to win the broadest possible support for the plan. Proponents of quotas told Guardian Australia this week sunset provisions to remove preferential treatment for women must be included in any rule change. Party sources say a shift in sentiment could be emerging towards a quota plan, provided the right model can be agreed to. A rule change would require 60% support in a vote of the NSW state council. Taylor opposes quotas. He said on Wednesday he would actively campaign on 'sensible policies in line with Liberal values' to get more women into parliament.
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Coalition happy to have quotas for Nationals on frontbench but not for female Liberal MPs, Tanya Plibersek says
The Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek has rubbished Liberal party objections to quotas to boost female representation in frontline politics, while dismissing claims longstanding Labor rules subvert democracy. As a series of reviews into the Coalition's emphatic 3 May election loss get under way, the shadow defence minister, Angus Taylor, has opposed a push for changes to preselection rules to promote Liberal women into winnable seats. Taylor, a leader in the conservative wing of the party's New South Wales branch, said gender quotas 'subvert democratic processes' and that mentoring, recruitment and support of women were better strategies to achieve increased female representation. Plibersek told ABC TV the justification was wrong, noting Labor had passed gender parity using quotas, while the female MPs made up less than a third of Liberal parliamentary ranks. 'They've got a quota of National party MPs that have to be on the frontbench,' she said. 'So they're happy to have quotas for National party MPs. It's just quotas for women that they're not prepared to use. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email 'Does Angus Taylor really want people to believe that the 28 most talented Liberals in the whole country are the people who've made it into the federal parliament?' Plibersek noted that the Liberals had ignored a non-binding 50% target for female representation put in place after the 2022 election. Labor introduced binding gender quotas in 1994 and has used the intervening decades to toughen its rules. The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, last week used a speech to the National Press Club to pledge to recruit more women to the Liberal party, saying she would be a 'zealot' for that objective. But Ley, the first woman to lead the Liberals, said she was personally agnostic about whether quotas were needed, insisting management of preselection processes was the responsibility of state divisions. 'Our party must preselect more women in winnable seats so that we see more Liberal women in federal parliament,' she said. 'Current approaches have clearly not worked, so I am open to any approach that will.' On Sunday Taylor said he and Ley agreed the Liberal party needed more female MPs and female members. 'The key thing that we all absolutely agree on here is we have to mobilise a grassroots movement across our side of politics for the things we believe in,' he told Sky News. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'That means having people who are representative of their communities, representative of the community here in Australia and we need to find every possible way to do that.' Taylor called for a sensible debate about recruiting women to parliament and to the Liberal party's membership more broadly. 'I've never been a believer in quotas to achieve that but its clear we have to take proactive action to achieve that.' A formal review into the Coalition's loss is being led by the Howard government minister Nick Minchin and the former NSW state minister Pru Goward. The Queensland Liberal National party senator James McGrath is expected to run a separate review into the party's structure. The opposition frontbencher Julian Leeser has called for consideration of preselection primary contests instead of quotas, while high-profile Liberals including the former minister Simon Birmingham and the NSW senator Maria Kovacic have called for mandated quota systems to prevent another drubbing by Labor. The NSW Liberal Women's Council will debate gender quotas at a meeting in Sydney this week. The party has designated places in its federal council for the chair of the federal women's council, as well as other groups including the Young Liberals.
News.com.au
27-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
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.'
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Liberal Party's social media pages 'hacked' with pornographic images - just hours after Sussan Ley's landmark speech
The Liberal Party's social media pages were briefly hacked with pornographic images allegedly advertising boob jobs - just hours after the new leader insisted her mission was to enhance female representation. Several extremely scantily-clad, seemingly AI-generated, women appeared on the 'stories' section of the Liberal Party of Australia Facebook page and Instagram accounts on Wednesday night. The images, which were broadcast to both page's combined 360,000 followers, were swiftly deleted - but not before eagle-eyed and fast-fingered viewers could grab screenshots. Some reported the X-rated pictures were an advert for breast enlargement procedures, while many saw the funny side. 'The Liberal party has gone t**s up,' one quipped. Another claimed they were 'just showing the benefits of inflation ', while a third suggested they were 'making the breast of a bad situation' following their historic humbling at the polls. 'The Liberal Party in Australia has been giving jobs to boobs for years. Just look at Dutton,' one joked. Daily Mail Australia approached the Liberal Party for comment. Sussan Ley, the party's first-female leader in its 80-year history, attempted to make a clean breast of things on Wednesday when she admitted the party had been 'smashed' at the federal election. 'Let's be honest and up front about last month's election,' she told the National Press Club in Canberra. 'We didn't just lose. We got smashed. Totally smashed.' Ley's speech was her first major attempt to refashion the party in her own image. She began it with an acknowledgement to country - a ceremony predecessor Peter Dutton said was 'overdone'. She also sought to distinguish herself from Dutton by highlighting her 'deep and abiding respect for the public service'. Dutton, infamously, had to abandon his plans to force all public servants back into the office because of its deep unpopularity. Ley, 63, also discussed two separate reviews into the Liberal Party's collapse: one conducting a 'root and branch' review of the election result and another having a 'deeper look at the existential issues we face'. Sussan Ley, the party's first-female leader in its 80-year history, attempted to make a clean breast of things on Wednesday when she admitted the party had been 'smashed' at the federal election She also insisted she was a 'zealot' about increasing the number of Liberal women in parliament, backing quotas for female candidates. 'As the first woman leader of our Federal Party, let me send the clearest possible message: we need to do better, recruit better, retain better and support better,' she said. 'That is why I will work with every Division, as will my Parliamentary team, to ensure we preselect more women for the 2028 Election.' Only a third of Liberal Party MPs are women compared to over half of Labor MPs.
