New Liberal MP Mary Aldred, who last week officially won the federal seat of Monash in Victoria to become one of just seven female lower house representatives for the party, says employers need to take a greater role in helping women and young professionals into politics.

Despite her win, the Coalition, which was trounced in the election, is confronting its failure to win young and female voters and a former president, Alan Stockdale, who thinks the female members are too assertive and joked it may need reverse quotas for men. While Australia will have more female representatives in this federal parliament than ever before, the Liberals’ female ranks have reached a new low.