Liberal women pushing for gender quotas amid internal fight

Liberal women have broken ranks to advocate for gender quotas amid more claims women miss out because of factional fights.

Liberal women have broken ranks to push for gender quotas after the NSW arm of the party set a target of 40 per cent of candidates in winnable seats to be females.

The party — which has repeatedly come under fire for its lack of gender diversity — has not committed to a formal quota like Labor.

Party Vice President Mary-Lou Jarvis welcomed the debate from women in the party but said a target was the best approach ahead of the 2023 election because the constitution did not allow quotas.

“It doesn’t matter what you call it, it’s what you achieve that is important. And we achieved success and results by implementing a target of 40 per cent of women at last year’s local election,” Ms Jarvis, who heads the party’s Women’s Council said.

But Ms Jarvis’s deputy, Women’s Council vice president Cristina Talacko is leading a push within the party to bring in quotas that level the playing field.

Liberal party vice president Mary-Lou Jarvis. Picture: Julian Andrews

“It has to be 50 per cent to bring equality. I did go to Harvard University just to study gender bias.

“I never thought quotas were important for the same preconceptions that Liberal women have … but I became completely convinced there that the implementation of quotas has an immediate effect in bringing healthy balance to politics,” she said.

Cristina Talacko is the Vice President of the party’s NSW Women’s council. Picture: John Feder

Former Parramatta hopeful and Liberal Party state council delegate Maria Kovacic said she would like quotas to be considered.

“Historically I haven’t been in favour of quotas but reality sometimes shows us we need to rethink our thinking to achieve something we haven’t been able to achieve.

“You have to consider a quota. I would like to look at how it is structured. You have to explore all options,” she said.

Another Liberal source said the party had “structural problems” that left women disengaged with factional infighting.

Former Parramatta Liberal candidate Maria Kovacic. Picture: John Grainger

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet welcomed NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

“We should do everything we can to fix it. When women join they get disenfranchised because it’s run for factions and not the best candidates,” the source said.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said the target was “important” but he won’t put a preferred number on it.

“I don't think the party has done well in the past in terms of preselecting high calibre high quality women for parliament …we need to do better,” he said.

The Labor Party has a 45 per cent quota for all candidates and 45 per cent for all target seats, with the figure to go up to 50 per cent in 2025.

Labor MLC Penny Sharpe said the Liberal party needed “firm rules” to improve gender equality.

“Any commitment to increase the numbers of women is welcome bbut they have failed to achieve this despite previously talking about it. They will struggle without firm rules like quotas to make it happen,” she said.