Grassroots disquiet at LNP gender push

Queensland Liberal National leader David Crisafulli faces grassroot disquiet over candidate preselections ahead of next year’s state election.

Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Queensland Liberal National leader David Crisafulli faces grassroot disquiet over candidate preselections ahead of next year’s state election as he pushes on with a 50 per cent gender target.

After the ­Coalition’s crushing defeat at last year’s federal election, Mr Crisafulli set a target for women candidates in seven of the 14 seats needed to topple Annastacia Palaszczuk’s third-term government.

Preselection drama is brewing in the crucial Sunshine Coast-based seat of Caloundra, where branch chair and local car salesman Alister Eiseman is expected to face off against businesswoman Kendall Morton.

Multiple party sources believe Caloundra will be a major test for Mr Crisafulli’s leadership as he will have to tread carefully to avoid repeating mistakes made in NSW preselections.

“He wants Kendall, but he will have to be very careful because if the grassroots members get a whiff he is trying to intervene, it will be chaos,” a party source said.

Another insider said: “If locals go to anarchy, it is all over. Look at what happened in NSW.”

The internal review into the Coalition’s 2022 federal election loss found perceptions that Scott Morrison was “not attuned to the concerns of women” was a major driver in its defeat.

Five Liberal men lost seats to “teal” independents who campaigned on gender equality; of the 18 seats that changed hands, 14 were won by women.

The review recommended a target of 50 per cent female representation in parliament within 10 years or three terms.

Liberal leaders across the country have been pushing to boost female candidates without introducing mandated quotas, as Labor did in 1994.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet intervened in state Senate preselections in December to ensure gender parity on the ticket.

Mr Morrison was lashed for hand-picking candidates in several key seats ahead of last year’s election, which he said had been about standing up for women in the party.

The Queensland LNP on Sunday night pulled the trigger early on preselections in six seats – Redcliffe, Redlands, Cairns, Thuringowa, Noosa and Nudgee – but has not called for candidate nominations in Caloundra yet.

Both Mr Eiseman and Ms Kendall did not respond to questions on their intentions to run, but branch sources said they were “positioning themselves”.

“It is going to be a shitfight,” an LNP source said.

“Alister has harnessed existing members and Kendall has brought new ones in.

“Of all of the LNP preselections in the state, this will be the most interesting.”

Unlike Labor, the LNP has no gender quotas, and Queensland women have historically been ­opposed to affirmative ­action policies.

Of the LNP’s 93 candidates at the 2020 state election, 26 were women compared with Labor’s 40.

Mr Crisafulli has previously said he supported grassroots member-­controlled preselections rather than mandated quotas and he would be “held accountable” if local branches failed to back what he was pushing for.

LNP state director Ben Riley said people were “banging down the door to run” for preselection ahead of the October 2024 state poll.