Mayoral candidate Jemma Tribe sends scathing letter as she quits NSW Liberal Party

A mayoral candidate has resigned from the NSW Liberal Party, firing off a scathing letter over how she has been treated. Read the letter here.

A mayoral candidate has quit the NSW Liberal Party over how she has been treated, including being told that she needed to “go on a crash diet” and that women have no place in leadership roles.

Jemma Tribe, a former Liberal Party official and South Coast businesswoman, made the claims in a fiery resignation letter sent this week to the party.

In the letter, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, Ms Tribe spoke of her “disillusionment” at the party’s treatment of local members, including how two of her “close friends” had never been invited to meetings despite being voted in as members “more than a year ago”.

“Those two members had since chosen not to renew their membership, because in their words ‘we were never invited to anything anyway’,” Ms Tribe said.

South Coast businesswoman Jemma Tribe. Picture: Supplied

Ms Tribe, who sought to be preselected for the federal seat of Gilmore but stood aside to make way for Andrew Constance, said she had been “determined to stay” in the party in order to help it rebuild into something better “but unfortunately there appears to be no real acknowledgment of the underlying issues.”

“While I have long been disillusioned with the party, I have been determined to stay and help ‘rebuild better’ so to speak but unfortunately there appears to be no real acknowledgment of the underlying issues,” Ms Tribe wrote.

“A few of us tried to establish ‘Winning Women’ based on the UK’s ‘Women to Win’ in an effort to boost the number of young women in the party. We received no support. During preselections, I have either been asked to withdraw my nomination to make way for a male candidate or I heard feedback like: ‘You need to go on a crash diet’, ‘People think you’re kind but not strong enough’ and ‘Don’t bother about speaking to that bloke — he doesn’t believe women should be in positions of leadership’.”

Ms Tribe claimed she had spoken to many women in her age bracket who felt the same as she did “and as the only woman in her late thirties in the Liberal Party in the Shoalhaven (now departing), there are none left to ask how to do better. I sincerely hope the party can rectify that in the future.”

Ms Tribe, who has been a member for 15 years since leaving the Family First party, announced in April that she would be running for the mayoral position as an independent - a move that may have ultimately led to her expulsion from the Liberal Party anyway as it does not permit members to run against endorsed candidates.

It is understood the comments about going on a crash diet and making way for male candidates were made when Ms Tribe was vying for federal preselection.

The letter of resignation from Jemma Tribe.

It is understood the comment was made by a party member, not Mr Constance.
A NSW Liberal Party spokesman said the party had not been aware of the incidents Ms Tribe had described in her letter prior her resignation.

“The Liberal Party takes such matters very seriously, and our Code of Conduct makes the behaviour standards expected of members very clear – allowing us to take action when standards are breached.

“Our party is putting forward strong and capable teams for the local government elections, with diverse candidates who represent their communities and will champion the needs of local residents and businesses.”

The party was working hard with it’s women’s council to support, mentor and train potential female candidates to help those who wished to put themselves forward as potential community representatives, he said

He said about about 40 percent of the currently endorsed local government candidates were female.