Deliver women real choice and we’d happily vote blue
I am the female voter who was primed to vote Liberal at this election. Not impressed by Anthony Albanese’s superhero act on childcare. Also not starry-eyed about the teals or minor parties. Good in theory, love their passion, but I think two strong major parties are preferable. No media personality candidates in my electorate to pin a Hail Mary on.
I’d even made my peace with the party not making Julie Bishop their leader when they had the chance. I had thought Bishop quitting politics would put me off Liberals for life. It’s not forgiveness, that’s too strong a word, but I have moved on. So right up until polling day my vote was there for the taking. Honestly, all they needed to do was throw me a bone and my vote was blue. But it never came.
Maybe I didn’t look hard enough, but there are quite a few voters like me. You need to hit us over the head with a policy that knocks our socks off. For your everyday mum with young children, cash is tight, life is busy. We don’t have time to sift through policy papers. However politically uninformed I may be, I did pick up on a few major themes.
Labor gave me several reasons not to vote for it. For a start, I don’t want more childcare – I don’t want to see my kids any less than I do. I’m also unimpressed by Labor binning paid parental leave for dads who have a stay-at-home partner. Women are dollar signs to Albanese, he has no idea what “best starts for kids” really entails and his push to get more kids into a broken childcare system is sickening. The problem is that while Labor gave me reasons not to give it my vote, the Liberal Party gave me no good reasons to vote for it other than not being Labor. Uninspiring to the point of bizarre. At one point I think it half-heartedly offered to let parents access superannuation to extend their PPL. I could pay for my own parental leave?
If my vote was hanging by a thread – as someone from a rural Liberal-voting family and with right-leaning views – they had no hope of winning swing voters and fence-sitters. So, what bones was I hoping to be thrown? Income splitting: Give caregivers a tax break that might afford them a few more months with their baby. Parental leave: If Labor is offering 26 weeks by 2026, make it 28. Better still, make it 52. Free mental health sessions for new parents, free women’s physiotherapy for new mums. Any of those would do. Whip out your superhero cape and sell it to me like you’re saving me.
Childcare subsidy: Fine, but not just for centre-based care. To be fair and give people genuine choice it would be necessary to subsidise a broad range of care arrangements. Not everyone can or wants to access a daycare centre run for profit. Families with children with complex needs, remote families, families on the waiting list. Support parent carers, grandparent care arrangements, subsidise nanny care.
If this election is anything to go on, words are enough. Just talk the talk. Be sure to tell me, at every opportunity, it’s about “giving kids the best starts in life”. That is, as we now know, an election-winning phrase. Political advisory genius to make it about the kids at every turn. New party line suggestion – “supporting parents to support their kids”. Giving women true choice. Supporting the carers who are the backbone of our economy. Anything would have been better than nothing.
The twist is I did vote Liberal because I live in Farrer and the seat is held by a woman – Sussan Ley. Ley has had my heart from the day she said this one sentence in parliament in 2023: “While improvements in economic participation are welcomed, if they are attributed to women having no other choice than to go back to work to make ends meet then this is concerning.”
It may not seem enough to earn voter loyalty, but it is exceedingly rare for this sentiment to be expressed in government and it’s a crucial point. I’m devastated more people don’t realise childcare is not delivering women genuine choice. Obviously, talking about this is not enough, we need policies built on this sentiment.
Would I have voted for a man who expressed similar concerns? Absolutely. Does it hit a little bit different coming from a man? Sure it does. Remember when Matt Canavan raised the topic of income splitting and was crucified by women who felt judged for having their kids in daycare? Now imagine Ley rephrasing that pitch as one that gives women more choice, more autonomy, about when they decide to return to work. Key word: choice.
Like it or not, women will vote for other women. With the Liberal Party, the women are simply not there for us to vote for. Even if I’d like to think I didn’t vote for Ley just because she was a woman, it’s possible there was a subconscious bias at play. When we don’t see ourselves in a party they are less likely to get our vote. In-grouping – the human behaviour of gravitating to people who are similar to ourselves – will always be at play to some extent when we are casting votes.
I thought the bloodbath in 2022 might have been the wake-up call the Liberals needed to rethink getting women to vote for them. Surely that was sign enough? Some people never learn.
All the way with the USA into quagmire of Vietnam
Australian participation was a cynical exercise by government to build up an insurance policy.
Dear Liberals, guess what? It’s not me, it really is you
My party needs to understand that those shouting the loudest don’t always have wisdom.