‘It’s no wonder women can’t get on,’ says Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk

BRISBANE Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has come under fire for making a sexist comment while defending a $500,000 contract awarded to a private company without it first going to tender.

“It’s no wonder women can’t get on, isn’t it?” Cr Quirk replied after the interjection. Picture: Annette Dew

BRISBANE Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has come under fire for making a sexist comment while defending a $500,000 contract awarded to a private company without it first going to tender.

Cr Quirk was asked to explain himself this week after Peritum were handed a one-year sole sourcing deal for Brisbane Metro’s project development director. Sole sourcing contracts can be awarded if it is in the public interest, or there is a lack of available tenderers, or if there is a restricted marketplace, or a multi-staged process has been followed.

Independent Councillor Nicole Johnston. Picture: Elise Searson

Opposition Labor Councillor Shayne Sutton. Picture: Elise Searson

Former Infrastructure Australia director Maree Kovacevic, who is listed as Peritum’s boss, was announced for the job in May this year. The experienced engineer, who was also a former Transport and Main Roads director with the Bligh government, was charged with overseeing the business case of the proposed $1.54 billion inner-Brisbane public transport system.

In a council meeting this week, Cr Quirk was cut off while he was answering questions from Opposition Labor Councillor Shayne Sutton and independent Councillor Nicole Johnston about why Peritum were handed the contract.

“It’s no wonder women can’t get on, isn’t it?” Cr Quirk replied after the interjection.

Asked to clarify what the comment meant, a spokesman for the Lord Mayor said it was made in response to councillors Sutton and Johnston criticising Ms Kovacevic’s qualifications.

Cr Sutton blasted the comment as “sexist and inappropriate”, accusing the Brisbane civic leader of attempting to avoid answering “serious questions” about the contract.

Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins said people needed to acknowledge the high level of “everyday sexism” in workplaces if attitudes were ever going to change.

“If we want to improve gender equality, we need to talk about the deeply embedded systemic and attitudinal barriers that too often enable low-level sexism to go unremarked,” she said.