Liberal Party women reject ‘tokenistic’ gender quotas

Senior Liberal women have come out as the ‘last line of defence’ against the implementation of gender quotas.

Pamphlet produced by Liberals For Merit voicing opposition to quotas for women in the Liberal Party.

A raft of senior Liberal women have come out publicly as the “last line of defence” against the implementation of gender quotas, in direct opposition to calls by senior Berejiklian ministers for direct measures to boost ­female representation.

In a pamphlet emailed to NSW Liberal State Council ­delegates, exclusively obtained by The Australian, the Liberals For Merit ­campaign counts a number of ­senior and rising ­Liberal women — including the federal member for Reid, Fiona Martin, and senators Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and Anne ­Ruston — among its ranks.

The call-to-arms from NSW Liberal state executive Alex Dore comes amid furious ­internal debate about whether a gender-based quota system would ameliorate some of the cultural ­issues plaguing the party.

The Liberals For Merit ­campaign said it had counted more than 200 NSW State ­Council delegates who had “voiced their opposition to ­quotas”, and, with 45 per cent of those women, Mr Dore said it would send a “powerful ­message” that would “frustrate and baffle the quota ­proponents”.

“Decisions about preselections are for the grassroots members who put aside their time to show up to branch meetings, not for parliamentarians to dictate,” Senator Ruston, the federal ­Families and Social Services ­Minister, said.

Federal Boothby MP Nicolle Flint added: “We believe in equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome — it’s the simplest way for me to explain why I will always be opposed to quotas.”

Alex Dore. Picture: Britta Campion

The supporters of Mr Dore’s campaign also included rising stars in the party such as Miranda MP Eleni Petinos and recently appointed NSW Young Liberals president Deyi Wu, in addition to stalwarts such as NSW Legislative Council president Natasha Mac­laren-Jones and former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop.

Ms Petinos said she “violently objected” to the proposition she needed to be “propped up and am capable of attaining only a ­tokenistic position”.

In July last year, 25.4 per cent of Liberal MPs across federal and state parliaments were women compared with 22.4 per cent of MPs in May 2015.

Labor’s female representation has increased by 36 per cent to 47.87 per cent since the introduction of quotas in 1994.

The denunciation of gender quotas defies the strongly held position of NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean, who argues that the “definition of stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome”.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman has said: “I haven’t supported quotas in the past but talk for decades about ­alternatives has failed. We now need quotas.”

However, their cabinet colleagues Police Minister David Elliott, Corrections Minister Anthony Roberts and Families, Communities and Disability Services Minister Gareth Ward threw their weight behind the Liberals For Merit campaign.

“Ascribing an arbitrary quota is a stunning admission of failure and says we are more interested in someone’s gender than the unique talent and ability of each individual,” Mr Ward said.

Leaked internal documents show the Liberal Party had considered a plan to introduce gender quotas in federal, state and local levels more than three years ago.