Will Hodgman wants as many Liberal women as men in parliament

As many women as men would represent the Tasmanian Liberals in State Parliament under a plan to be unveiled by Premier Will Hodgman today.

Premier Will Hodgman wants more women in parliament.

As many women as men would represent the Tasmanian Liberals in State Parliament under a plan to be unveiled by Premier Will Hodgman today.

Mr Hodgman will announce a target of 50 per cent representation of women in Parliament by 2022.

“For us to be a modern Liberal Party and to properly reflect our community, we must get serious about the gender imbalance that exists within our party,” Mr Hodgman told the Mercury yesterday.

“While there has been some recent improvement we are still falling short, so we need a new approach to increasing the involvement, participation and leadership of women in the Liberal Party.”

Six of 17 Liberals in Tasmania’s parliament are women, compared to all three of the Tasmanian Greens and four of the nine Labor members.

At a Federal level, there are no female Tasmanian Liberal elected representatives.

Mr Hodgman said the Liberal Party was founded on the principles of individual choice, opportunity and the recognition of merit and democratic representation.

“And the Liberal Party does have a proud history of political firsts for women,” the Premier said.

“But with a consistent under representation of women in our parliamentary ranks, we need to take action to be a modern Liberal Party, with a more proactive and positive approach to engage women, to increase participation, and to provide genuine equality of opportunity.

“To do so, we must set a target and actively pursue it.

“We must aim for 50 per cent representation by 2022, in two elections time, which is a practical and achievable goal.”

The Government’s policy to increase the representation of women on government boards to 50 per cent has seen an increase from 33 per cent to nearly 40 per cent in a year.

The senior ranks of the public service lags, with highly paid roles dominated by men despite the workforce being 70 per cent female.

Originally published as Will Hodgman wants as many Liberal women as men in parliament