Latest news with #womenInPolitics
ABC News
01-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Liberal Party dusts off same script on quotas to debate lack of women MPs
Is there a more ghoulish spectacle in Australian politics than the triennial round of hand-wringing and puzzlement that consumes the federal Liberal Party after yet another election bestows yet another round of shrinkflation on its ranks of female MPs? It's 10 years now since a covert report to the Liberal Party's federal executive warned that the party did not afford equal opportunity to female candidates, and strongly advised that a target of 50 per cent be set and met by 2025. At the time the report was written, there were just 17 Liberal women in the House of Representatives, a number sufficiently grim that the Turnbull government, in 2016, duly committed to the 50 per cent target. When Parliament resumes later this month, the situation will be visibly, morbidly worse. Just six Liberal women will take their places on the green leather. Assuming Liberal leader Sussan Ley takes a COMCAR to Parliament House, the rest of the Liberal women can get there in a Corolla. The truly transfixing part, however, is this: no matter how low the number goes, the script remains the same. Dismay is expressed. A review is called. A handful of party figures (mostly women) gently suggest that perhaps after 30 years of arguing about this while things get worse and worse, it might be worth looking at some kind of mechanism to improve the situation. At which point they are briskly reminded by various grandees (mostly male) that the Liberal Party is the party of merit, and quotas are to the party of merit as dancing is to the town of Bomont, Utah in the movie Footloose (a breakout hit in 1984, the last-but-one election year in which the Liberal Party's proportion of female candidates was competitive with Labor's). Quotas are illiberal, goes the party line. They are anti-democratic. They are anathema to the spirit of the Liberal Party. Which is weird, because the Liberal Party invented quotas for women. After the sickeningly dispiriting election of 1943, in which John Curtin's Labor Party trounced all comers with 58.2 per cent of the two-party preferred vote — still its highest ever — Robert Menzies built a grand coalition between the non-Labor forces the very next year, in 1944, and called it the Liberal Party. Lending funds and campaign expertise to the enterprise were women's groups like the Australian Women's National League, whose leader Elizabeth Couchman shrewdly negotiated a provision in Victoria that half the party's executive positions be reserved for women. Were those appointments made on merit? Quota purists would say no, of course. But Couchman and her colleagues must have been doing something right: the Victorian branch of the Liberal Party, in its first 25 years, did better than any other party branch in Australia at electing women to the federal Parliament, producing Ivy Wedgwood, Marie Breen and the magnificent Margaret Guilfoyle, Australia's first female finance minister. Quotas brought women to the table, sent women to the Parliament and played a strong role in ensuring that the Coalition enjoyed a consistent advantage among female voters all the way until the year 2001. The Liberal Party is perfectly entitled to reject quotas for women. It's a free party, practising free association in a free country. But to pretend that it runs a quota-free operation — even today — is risible at best. The Coalition agreement with the Nationals — renegotiated after every election — is principally concerned with how many Nats are proportionally entitled to demand frontbench positions. Is it a miracle of merit that there always turn out to be exactly as many matchlessly qualified National Party MPs available to serve as ministers as would decently reflect their share of the joint party room? No, it is not. Is the deputy prime minister in a Coalition government always a Nat because the regional junior partner has a freakish knack of always just happening to have the most meritorious chap for that particular office? Pull the other one. There's a formal quota in place for Nationals on the front bench, just like there's an informal one for wets and dries, and people from Queensland, and all the rest of it. Are preselections in the Liberal Party a matter of merit? Let's be realistic. Even if there were standard KPIs available for what makes a good MP — which there absolutely are not — it would be an uphill climb to convince any disinterested observer that they alone determine who gets to be a candidate, especially in safe seats. Much depends on the factional makeup of the preselection college. The appetite of the candidate for arm-twisting and white-anting. The presence or absence of powerful sponsors. "Merit" — a wobbly concept at best, and endlessly susceptible to human subjectivity — is a particularly gelatinous affair when it comes to politics. The candidate preselection system in the Liberal Party yields — just as it does in the Labor Party — a wildly inconsistent crop of candidates, by and large. Both parties — threaded as they are with factional operatives, seats that "belong" to one gang or other, and grassroots memberships that skew left or right or old or crackers — are capable of sending profoundly ungifted representatives to the nation's capital. Sometimes, they send brilliant people. Sometimes, average ones. There are unofficial quotas for unions, for people with influential mates, for good blokes judged to have missed out unfairly last time round. Let's not even talk about the Senate, which is the largest and most obvious quota system our Parliament operates. Does Tasmania get a grossly disproportionate number of senators to its tiny population because Tasmanians are more meritorious? Nope, they get the same number of senators as NSW because when our Federation was being designed, the drafters knew it was important to hear from everybody. And more to the point, they would never have got Federation over the line without cutting a deal for the smaller colonies. Politics is always about getting the numbers. If merit's involved, which it absolutely is, at least some of the time: brilliant. But let's never pretend that the long march of gaining preselection in a major party, making it to parliament, getting picked for the front bench or even becoming the leader of a party is reliably fuelled by merit alone. The Liberal Party's new leader, Sussan Ley, provoked all sorts of huffing and puffing last week by declaring at the National Press Club that urgent action was required to increase the number of Liberal women in parliament. She did not specifically endorse quotas. This makes her not even as venturesome on the subject as Scott Morrison, who declared in 2021 — to absolutely no perceptible effect — that he was prepared to give gender quotas a go. The hard truth is that preselections are a matter for state branches in the Liberal Party, and any federal leader wanting to revolutionise the system will require nerves of steel and a determined party room with an appetite for trouble. One compromise model — proposed in 2021 by the now-former Liberal MPs Nicolle Flint and Jason Falinski – is the "priority list" approach adopted in 2005 by British Conservative leader David Cameron. Determined to modernise the party, Cameron had the party's national leadership compose a list of diverse candidates from which branches were obliged to consider at least two in each preselection round. Rather than enforcing quotas, the reform forcibly expanded the field of candidates under consideration. Still, it was a long-tail, feather-ruffling business. For years, the women on the Tories' priority list were known derisively as "Cameron's Cuties". One of them was Kemi Badenoch, who 20 years later now serves as the party's leader. Power never gives itself away. And if you want to grab it, you have to be prepared to hold on, because it's never pretty.
ABC News
27-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Angus Taylor against Liberal quotas for women
Sussan Ley's leadership rival Angus Taylor says a "crusade" is needed to involve more women in the Liberal party but remains opposed to gender quotas. Moderates and conservatives are split over whether the party should force itself to boost female representation with a formal mechanism, or whether it can be trusted to do so organically after a heavy election loss worsened its already lopsided ranks. There are now just six women among the 28 Liberals in the House of Representatives, with Ms Ley vowing to be a "zealot" about increasing that number even as she remains undecided on quotas. But Mr Taylor, who leads the conservative wing of the party's NSW branch, said he opposed quotas because they "subvert democratic processes" within the party. "I think there are better ways of achieving this … Mentoring, recruitment, support is the way to make sure you have talented people," he told ABC Radio National. "We absolutely need more women in the party at every level, whether it's members of our branches, whether it's on our executives, whether indeed it is as members of parliament, and I think there's a huge job for us," he said. "[But] I have never been a supporter of quotas." That view is shared by many conservatives in the party, who see the push for gender quotas as a guise for moderates, who are often outnumbered by conservatives in local branches, to get the upper hand in pre-selection battles they would otherwise lose. Former PM Tony Abbott, who remains an active participant in internal party affairs, told the ABC this week quotas were "fundamentally illiberal" and at odds with "the merit principle that should be at the heart of our party". While several moderate women did prevail in pre-selection battles ahead of the last election, including Gisele Kapterian, who defeated high-profile conservative Warren Mundine in Bradfield, moderates remain concerned the deck is stacked against them. Retired moderate leader Simon Birmingham, who called for "hard, fast and ambitious" quotas after the election, was explicit that the main blocker to pre-selecting women was "an increasingly narrow membership base, both in numbers and outlook". "Quotas for women in parliament may be somewhat illiberal. But I struggle to think of any alternatives if there's to be a new direction that truly demonstrates change," he said. But conservatives point to Ms Ley's new frontbench line-up as evidence that women on the right of the party have been overlooked, with Sarah Henderson and Claire Chandler dropped entirely and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price demoted from shadow cabinet. Jane Hume, who is a moderate but is aligned with Mr Taylor, was also dropped. All four women are from the Senate, where the party has achieved near-gender parity. Ms Ley has emphasised that quota policies were a matter for individual state branches to decide, owing to the party's federated model. "It doesn't have a top-down instruction method … Some state divisions might choose to implement quotas. If they do, that's fine. If others don't, that's also fine," she told the ABC on Thursday. "What is not fine is not having enough women." The issue will be a key consideration for James McGrath's review of the future of the party, announced this week. Senator McGrath, who is not aligned to either wing of the party, hails from Queensland, the state with the worst gender balance in the country at just one woman among 12 federal representatives. The other laggard state is Western Australia, which has six men and two women. New South Wales (6-4), Victoria (5-4), South Australia (4-3) and Tasmania (2-2) all have at least 40 per cent women, figures which would have been improved if the party as a whole had performed better at the last federal election. The poor result saw sitting MPs Jenny Ware and Bridget Archer unexpectedly defeated, while Gisele Kapterian, Amelia Hamer and Katie Allen all lost in competitive races.
Fox News
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Joy Behar mocked for 'ridiculous' claim Trump doesn't like 'strong women'
"The View" host Joy Behar criticized the women in President Donald Trump's life, claiming he surrounds himself with women who stroke his ego and are "obedient." Her remarks prompted pushback from many conservative women, including Fox News contributor Brett Cooper. "The accusation is completely ridiculous," said the host of "The Brett Cooper Show" podcast during an appearance on "Fox & Friends" Thursday. "Trump's entire administration is filled with strong, intelligent women." Behar suggested that Trump "doesn't really like strong women," instead suggesting he only wanted those around him who were "dutiful, obedient women who compliment him." She also recounted a time when Trump lashed out at her for criticizing his hair, something she believes he didn't do to male comedians who made similar jokes. "Every male comedian did jokes about his hair, but he went after me in particular," Behar said, suggesting his response was driven by sexism. But Cooper pushed back, saying the president's criticism may have had less to do with Behar's gender and more to do with her nature. "Maybe it's not the fact that you're a woman, Joy, but it's just that you are Joy, and he doesn't want to deal with you," Cooper said. "It's less about you being a woman and just about who you are." The young conservative influencer, who signed this week as a Fox News Media contributor, went on to defend prominent women in Trump's orbit, including the impact of first lady Melania Trump. "It's so offensive to say that about her," Cooper said of how Behar's comments paint conservative women like Mrs. Trump. "You've seen the incredible work that she has done, the books that she's written, the languages that she speaks, and the fact that she actively pushes back against him [Trump] on a daily basis, and they still have a great marriage." Other women with high-ranking roles in the Trump White House include Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, DNI Tulsi Gabbard, Attorney General Pam Bondi, press secretary Karoline Leavitt and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who earlier this year became the first woman to hold the title. This isn't the first time Trump's relationships with women have been scrutinized on "The View." Last year, billionaire Mark Cuban also took aim. "Donald Trump, you never see him around strong, intelligent women. Ever," Cuban said last October. "It's just that simple. They're intimidating to him. He doesn't like to be challenged by them." Those remarks, too, drew sharp criticism from Trump allies. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at the time called Cuban's comments "insulting" to the many women who work with and support the former president.
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.'
SBS Australia
25-06-2025
- Politics
- SBS Australia
‘We got smashed': Sussan Ley reframes the Liberal narrative after election defeat
'We got smashed': Sussan Ley reframes the Liberal narrative after election defeat Published 25 June 2025, 8:58 am The Opposition Leader has used an address at the National Press Club to outline her plans to reshape the Liberal Party after the disastrous federal election result painting her leadership as a departure from Peter Dutton. Sussan Ley promised to be a zealot in recruiting women to the party. She also made a deeply personal admission about her own experience of coercion and control, vowing to use her position to address domestic violence.
