Latest news with #genderQuotas
The Guardian
05-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Sussan Ley must fight to return the Liberal party to the broad church that embodies Australia's enduring values
Reports of the death of the Liberal party are much exaggerated. There is a mountain to climb but should the incumbents stumble badly, the Coalition is the only viable governing option. In Australia, governments lose office rather than oppositions win. The Coalition must regroup quickly, hold the government to account and commence serious policy development based on its enduring values. Sussan Ley must define herself before her opponents do. She can begin by going on the road and engaging with and listening to her fellow Australians. The debacle over the work from home policy in the last election inevitably has revived calls for gender quotas, suggesting that would make the party more in touch. It's a great announceable, signalling a change in the party culture. There are strong arguments for and against given the more individualistic ethos of the Liberal party. Delivering such a structural change is fraught with risk. It would require herding the cats of state divisions. The issue will probably become another front in the internal culture wars as it is already identified by detractors as a 'left' issue. It could spark a proxy leadership contest. Leaders must pick their fights and win. Is this the hill that Ley is prepared to die on? It may be better to tackle this issue through the prism of party reform including more open membership and nomination processes. This is on the agenda in New South Wales and that's good as far as it goes. There is however a case for giving party directors more say in candidate identification and development, including testing candidate profiles in the electorate. The late secretary of the NSW Liberal party, Senator John Carrick, was a master at this. Better candidate pathways also require that Liberal party factions and groupings be house trained. Formal power sharing to give everyone a voice at the table might help. Robust policy arguments between liberals and conservatives within the broad Liberal church are necessary and desirable but there can be no winner-take-all mentality. The party interest should trump factional interests. The Coalition has to double down on its traditional strengths of economic management and national security, reflecting long-held values that elevate the national interest above sectional interests. Failure to control spending and taxation levels is a basic test of managerial competence. If you cannot manage the budget, you cannot manage the country. National defence is core government business. At present, more guns mean less butter, unless we radically improve our productivity. Governments need to take the public into their confidence about our rapidly changing strategic circumstances that require the most significant industrial mobilisation since the second world war. Economic reform and resilience are intimately connected to our capacity to maintain Aukus and other programs without shredding the national budget. Social policies must be embedded in a Liberal vision of society. That means supporting the family unit, in all its contemporary manifestations, strengthening the sinews of civil society as a counter to big government, monopolistic businesses and powerful trade unions. An overriding regard for the rights of the individual as opposed to the collective. Liberals have long recognised the social benefit of high rates of home ownership. Donald Trump's presidencies have energised the more conservative elements of the global right, promoting economic populism, 'traditional' values, nativism and a disdain for liberal elites that enforce drab conformism and cancel culture. In Australia this translates into a view that the centre is Labor-lite territory and there is a poultice of votes on the more conservative right, which represents a silent majority of voters, the 'real' people. It's true that major parties can be Tweedledum and Tweedledee if they huddle too closely to each other. The risk for parties that go too far in one direction is to cede too much ground to their opponents. However, the centre also shifts depending on the salience of specific issues. If immigration appears out of control, for example, voters will give it a higher priority. The alchemy of politics lies in judging the Goldilocks moment, when policy is neither too right nor too left but just right. Dutton misjudged the alchemy, allowing himself to be tagged with the Trump brush, not having defined himself over the last three years. Dutton did not need to agree with the government on everything. But politics is about arithmetic and building a big tent. In 1996, John Howard improved the electability of the Coalition by taking the rough edges off many Fightback era policies, including embracing Medicare and putting a safety net under industrial relations reforms. One pole of the big tent is addressing climate change in a pragmatic fashion. The weather is changing and nations that adapt quickly will gain a first mover advantage. Business and communities can see what is coming and are moving to address the issue, even if some governments want to turn back the clock. Most Australians will support sensible measures that provide affordable, abundant and clean energy with appropriate back up. The British Conservative party crossed this bridge some time ago. Failing to engage on the issue in a factual way makes it almost impossible to talk to those who regard this as a high priority, such as younger voters and Teal supporters. Arthur Sinodinos is a former Australian ambassador to the US. He is the partner and chair of the Asia Group's Australia practice and was a former minister for industry, innovation and science
Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Tense moment Ex-Senator slams colleague over embarrassing leaked email
A former Liberal Senator has lashed out at her own party following the leak of an email from a newly elected colleague, who had asked members not to leak internal discussions. The email, sent by Senator Jess Collins and made public on Thursday, reveals her staunch opposition to gender quotas and her frustrations with internal party divisions. In the message, Collins argues quotas are unnecessary, insisting that candidates should be chosen on merit. She points to the NSW State Liberals who achieved gender parity without any formal mandates. Collins also takes aim at 'factional hacks' she claims are clinging to power within the party. Appearing on Sky News, former Senator Hollie Hughes, who lost her seat to Collins in the 2024 preselection, did not hold back. Hughes said she received a flurry of messages that morning about Collins' 'please don't leak' email, with most people mocking it. Hughes said, noting her 'surprise' that the message focused on internal matters rather than holding the Albanese Government to account. Hughes mentions that it was peculiar that Collins ran on a platform of foreign affairs expertise, but made no mention foreign policy in the email. Listing her own work on Senate committees and shadow portfolios, Hughes questioned how Collins' campaign for 'merit-based' selection stacked up. 'I'm not sure how I missed out on that when it came to merit' Hughes said. Hughes then slammed Collins over her role in unseating her during the preselection battle. 'What gave me a chuckle, when a woman knocks off a sitting female Senator in shadow portfolios and claims, A. Merit, and B. 'I'm supporting women',' she said. During a panel discussion, journalist Joe Hildebrand asked how Collins was preselected, and whether factional support played a role. Hughes responded with a sarcastic jab, 'How did she get there?' she said, before bursting out laughing. 'Honey, so what happens is, everyone else is a big bad faction. But my faction isn't a faction. I got elected because I was amazing,' Hughes said, mimicking Collins in a mocking tone. Collins had the backing of the Liberal Party's Right faction, led federally by former Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor, who unsuccessfully challenged Sussan Ley for the leadership. Hughes, who supported Ley in the leadership vote, was backed by the Centre-Right faction led by NSW powerbroker Alex Hawke. Hughes wished Collins well in the future, and said she hoped Collins learned from the email debacle. 'I know that you don't send an email with please don't leak this, that's like flagging a red rag to a bull'. A review into the Liberal Party's devastating election loss is underway, with a second probe ordered by leader Sussan Ley to confront the deeper, existential challenges threatening the party's future. Parliament will sit for the first time since the election on July 22.
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.'
News.com.au
26-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Angus Taylor says ‘better ways' to fix Liberal female representation than quotas
Senior Liberal Angus Taylor says he does not support implementing gender quotas to boost the number of women in the Liberal Party. This comes after Sussan Ley issued orders to state branches to boost female representation before the next election. Although the defence spokesman and former Liberal leadership challenger conceded that the party was 'not getting it right' in terms of ensuring it had a 'representative number of women', he said quotas was not the answer. 'I've never been a supporter of quotas as a means to do that. I think there are better ways of doing that, and I've seen that in my own business career, making sure we attract, we retain, we mentor great people, including, of course, great women,' he said. Instead, he said the Liberal Party needed to become 'obsessed with attracting, retaining and mentoring great talent'. While Mr Taylor wouldn't go as far to mirror the Opposition Leader's comments that she was a 'zealot' when it cames to getting more women to join the party, he said: 'I have always been a zealot for talented people.' Mr Taylor's comments come as the Ms Ley called on state Liberal divisions to preselect more women in winnable seats ahead of the 2028 federal election. While she said she was 'agnostic' on the specific methods to achieve better gender representations, like quotas, she left the door open for federal intervention if state divisions didn't co-operate with her directive. 'I want to work proactively, passionately with our state divisions to achieve more women in the Liberal Party,' she told the National Press Club on Wednesday. 'What we have now is completely unacceptable. What we have done has not worked. What we need to do going forward has to be different.' However, other members of the Liberal Party, like NSW Liberal senator Maria Kovacic, have backed short-term forced quotas in order to boost the party's numbers. 'I believe that quotas are necessary as a short-term circuit breaker because what we're doing at the moment hasn't worked,' she told the ABC. 'It's clear we don't have enough women, and we need to create a balance so that, as Sussan properly stated, we have a party that respects, reflects and represents modern Australia.' Retired Liberal senator and former defence minister Linda Reynolds also backed temporary quotas following the Coalition's 2022 election loss. 'I have never been a fan of quotas, as by themselves they do not deliver the reforms needed to enable permanent change to stick, and then quotas risk becoming permanent,' she wrote in 2022. 'In light of the party's worst result since 1993, I have raised the idea of temporary quotas to kickstart wider reform.'
