Annika Smethurst: Kelly O’Dwyer’s exit is a catastrophe for the Morrison Government

MP Kelly O’Dwyer’s decision to put her young family ahead of her career is admirable — but for the government, her exit from parliament is a catastrophe, writes Annika Smethurst.

The loss of Kelly O'Dwyer is a catastrophe for the government. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Just when it seemed it couldn’t get worse, the Liberal Party has lost one of its most senior women from parliament.

Cabinet Minister Kelly O’Dwyer has made the difficult decision to walk away from politics — a career she was clearly passionate about and enjoyed.

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While no one can question her reasons for leaving or the anguish she must have endured, the result is a disaster for the Morrison Government, which is already struggling to woo female voters at the ballot box.

The difficult task of attracting women, particularly those aged 35 to 49, will now be left to the likes of Melissa Price and Karen Andrews — the two remaining Liberal women in the lower house lucky enough to have a seat at the Cabinet table.

Kelly O’Dwyer with PM Scott Morrison. Picture: Gary Ramage

O’Dwyer, an educated and accomplished mother of two, was the only antivenene the party had from attacks that the Liberals had a problem with the ladies.

She made history in 2009 when, aged just 32, she became the first woman ever preselected by the Liberal Party for a safe seat in metropolitan Melbourne.

With no guarantee her blue-riband seat of Higgins will be filled by a female candidate, the Liberal Party could be left with as few as four women in the House of Representatives after May.

O’Dwyer was also on track to be the only Liberal woman elected to the House of Representatives from the state of Victoria. Now, the party could be left with none.

More worryingly for the Morrison Government is the very real prospect that the Liberals will lose the seat of Higgins, previously held by two prime ministers.

Massive swings against the Liberal Party in Melbourne’s inner-eastern suburbs at the recent state election meant O’Dwyer was already vulnerable to the Greens.

Kelly O’Dwyer has decided to put her young family first. Picture: Nicki Connolly

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Taking a decade-old incumbent out of Higgins, which has been in Liberal hands since it was established in 1949, further risks the loss of one of the Party’s crown jewels.

The summer break was meant to be a time for government MPs to stop talking about themselves.

Instead, the Coalition kicked off the Christmas holidays with an embarrassing scandal surrounding Andrew Broad’s use of a “sugar daddy” website.

It ends the break with the loss of another senior female cabinet member.

O’Dwyer’s decision to put her young family ahead of her career is admirable. But for the government, her exit from the parliament is a catastrophe.

Originally published as Annika Smethurst: Kelly O’Dwyer’s exit is a catastrophe for the Morrison Government