Peta Credlin hits out at ‘blokey’, ‘exclusionary’ culture in Canberra

TONY Abbott’s chief of staff, Peta Credlin, has had enough. Now she’s lashed out over a big problem in Canberra — and taken a veiled shot at her critics.

PETA Credlin, has lashed out at the “masculine”, “exclusionary” culture of federal parliament, and called for the Liberal Party to fight harder against sexism.

Tony Abbott’s chief of staff made the frank comments at a forum on gender and politics in Melbourne yesterday, the Australian reports.

“I’ve had 16 years in Canberra, and I’m pretty resilient, but it is the toughest, most masculine, most exclusionary place, and I hardly ever walk into a room where there’s more than two women,” she said.

“Nine times out of 10, here and overseas, I am the only woman. And people ask me to get the cup of tea, and because I’ve got a man’s name, they just assume that I’m not Peta Credlin.”

Peta Credlin in the House of Representatives.

Ms Credlin told the audience women in public life were subjected to double standards and took a subtle swipe at her own critics, who accused her of being an overly controlling presence in the Prime Minister’s office.

“A bloke is ‘across the detail’, a woman’s a ‘micro-manager’. You know? A woman’s ‘a b***h’, but a guy is ‘strong and determined’. And we let people get away with this,” she said.

According to the Australian, she even took aim at the Liberal Party, suggesting its structure has undermined the potential of female candidates.

“Our women are not in the safe seats, so when we lose government, we lose our pipeline,” Ms Credlin said.

“So it was really hard to put a ministry together in 2010 when we had just come in touch (with winning government), we didn’t have a pipeline of women.

“Right now, we’ve got a lot of women who could be in the ministry, but they were just elected in 2013, so it’s not usual that you get in the ministry within your first term. I hope, should we win the next election, that we’re in a situation where we have a very strong pipeline of women.”

Ms Credlin alongside Attorney-General George Brandis and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton.

Ms Credlin believes the lack of Liberal women in parliament is more than an “equality” issue — it’s also hurting the government’s policymaking process.

“Unless you have women in places where decisions are made ... you’re not going to get women to run for seats. If you don’t get women to run for seats, you’re not going to get female ministers, and if you don’t get women ministers, you’re not designing popular policy for half the population.”

Ms Credlin speaks with Tony Abbott in parliament.

It should be noted that Ms Credlin’s husband, Brain Loughnane, is the Federal Director of the Liberal Party. And her boss, Tony Abbott, is in as good a position as anyone else to push for change in Canberra.

Mr Abbott has been involved in a few sexism controversies himself, but Ms Credlin was full of praise for him yesterday.

“For all Tony Abbott’s faults, I have never had a better male mentor who lets me speak frankly about women,” she said.

Still, you get the sense she’d like him to do more than listen.