Ex-Labor leader Delia Lawrie’s hypocrisy is hard to swallow, writes HAYLEY SORENSEN

EX-Labor leader dismissed the leadership potential of two female ministers with the kind of prejudice she was subjected to herself as a young mother, writes HAYLEY SORENSEN

WHEN Delia Lawrie assumed the leadership of Territory Labor in 2012, she did so as a single mother to three school- aged kids with a well-deserved reputation as a tough-as-nails headkicker.

Speaking at an International Women’s Day function in 2015, the then opposition leader lamented the underrepresentation of women in Australian politics.

The country suffered, Lawrie said, because it wasn’t harnessing the wisdom, passion and drive of half of its population.

“It distorts our political priorities,” she said.

Women “by nature are nurturers”. Far from being an impediment, that meant they had more to contribute, she said.

Lawrie spoke as someone who knew what it was like to have her decision to work and have kids picked apart by colleagues and strangers.

Attorney-General Natasha Fyles and Treasurer Nicole Manison were dismissed as possible leadership contenders by former Territory Labor leader Delia Lawrie. “Mano has too many lil bubs to care for, Natasha is too nasty,” Lawrie wrote

“When I began my career people questioned whether, as a young mother, I could succeed at work and raise a family well,” she told that function.

“After a decade committed to my community, with the help of my mother, sister and friends, my daughters are wonderful, intelligent, caring adults who have dedicated years of their life to helping peers with a disability.”

But while Lawrie didn’t see motherhood as an obstacle to her — ultimately unfulfilled — aspiration to be chief minister, leaked text messages show she thinks it should for others.

The messages to Labor supporters revealed Lawrie had cooked up a revenge plot against her old foe Michael Gunner. She wanted them to stir up leadership speculation by positioning Infrastructure Minister Eva Lawler as a contender for the chief ministership.

Among Lawler’s qualifications for the job, she wrote, was that she “has no young kids”.

She dismissed the two obvious contenders, Deputy Chief Minister Nicole Manison and Attorney-General Natasha Fyles in a single sentence.

“Mano has too many lil bubs to care for, Natasha is too nasty …. Eva may be the Switzerland that unites,” Lawrie wrote.

‘YOU wouldn’t say it about a bloke’: Gunner

Strangely, I don’t recall any questions raised about CLP chief minister Adam Giles’ ability to lead when he and his partner welcomed their first child while he was in the top job. Parenthood, it seems, is only a career affliction when it applies to women.

I’ve watched the indefatigable Manison face down some incredibly difficult situations in her almost three years as Deputy Chief Minister. The only time I’ve seen her waver was when, while pregnant with her second child, she described the toll the criticism she faced after she gave birth to her first had taken.

Half told her she was neglecting the job she had been elected to do.

The other half told her, in incredibly lurid, personal and hurtful terms, she was a cold- hearted monster for going back to work while she had a six-week old at home.

The free parenting assessments would have been a lot for any new mum to deal with, even one as capable and self-assured as Manison.

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Equally as galling as the way she dismissed Manison was the word Lawrie used to cut down Fyles.

Nasty. The accusation is a weapon Lawrie faced herself many times through her own political career. It’s one that’s been used forever against any woman who dares to try to rise above her station.

Donald Trump used it against Hillary Clinton.

His retort to Clinton during a 2016 leaders debate — “such a nasty woman” — angered and galvanised women around the world.

What was intended as an insult transformed into a rallying cry.

Women wore T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase, proud to be “nasty women”.

The world could do with a few more nasty women at the top. And it could do with fewer women so willing to subject their peers to the same kind of prejudice they faced.

■ HAYLEY Sorensen is the Sunday Territorian’s resident columnist