Labor criticised for lack of transparency around economic task force appointments

Labor has been criticised for a lack of transparency around the appointments to a new women’s economic task force.

Labor has been accused of giving “jobs to the girls” amid a lack of transparency around the appointments to a new women’s economic task force.

Opposition deputy leader Sussan Ley has criticised the “hypocrisy” of the federal government’s unclear process behind the formation of the inaugural Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, arguing it contradicted Labor’s own calls that appointments to government boards should not be based on “who you know”.

The 13-member task force was created in 2022 to advise government on issues relating to women’s economic participation, reducing the gender pay gap and ensuring financial decisions considered equality.

Office for Women acting first assistant secretary Chantelle Stratford told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday of the 52 names the department suggested as options for the task force, there was no apparent process followed by Finance and Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher to whittle down to the final 13 appointees.

Ms Stratford said while the names put forward by the department were not ranked, Ms Gallagher was provided with biographies of the women and their perceived strengths and skills.

Finance and Women’s Minister Katy Gallagher has defended her picks to sit on a new economic task force. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

Asked if any of the 13 task force members had not been on the department’s long list, Ms Gallagher said: “yes there would be,” but did not know offhand how many.

Ms Gallagher said she picked the candidates on the basis of representing the “widest range” of women’s interests across the country as possible.

“I wanted every state and territory represented … and (broad) industry representation as well,” she said.

Ms Gallagher said the task force members who weren’t on the department’s list had been chosen in response to what she perceived as “gaps in representation”.

But Ms Ley said the appointments appeared to her as a “jobs for the girls” call by Ms Gallagher.

“The Coalition absolutely supports the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce and would welcome ongoing briefings on its work, but revelations about the process Katy Gallagher undertook here are deeply troubling,” she said.

Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley has accused Labor of making ‘jobs for the girls’ picks to be on an economics task force. Picture: Martin Ollman/Getty Images

“These are taxpayer-funded roles and appointments should be based on merit not on the vague whim or personal relationship of a Minister.”

Ms Ley said the revelations appeared hypocritical given Ms Gallagher’s recent comments that “being on a government board should be about what you know, not who you know”.

“That looks a lot like hypocrisy to me,” Ms Ley said.

Ms Gallagher said she was “proud” of the women on the task force who were “all leaders in their field” and challenged the opposition to name who they believed “shouldn’t be there”.

“(The Coalition) couldn’t possibly find fault with any of our task force members.”

Originally published as Labor criticised for lack of transparency around economic task force appointments