Labor MPs under face forced resignation to meet gender quota

At least three male Labor MPs, possibly including government ministers, face the threat of forced resignation before the Queensland election to meet the party’s gender quota rules.

State member for Toohey, Peter Russo, supports Labor’s affirmative action policy. Picture: NewsWire/Sarah Marshall

At least three male Labor MPs, possibly including Palaszczuk government ministers, face the threat of forced resignation before the Queensland election to meet the party’s gender quota rules.

The ALP affirmative action policy, which ramped up this year, requires women to be preselected in 45 per cent of seats held by Labor.

With women making up 40 per cent of the state Labor caucus, at least three men will have to quit before the 2024 state election to make way for more women.

Labor sources say Right faction ministers Stirling Hinchliffe and Mark Furner could be tapped to go, along with Left backbenchers Peter Russo and Jim Madden.

“It all depends on who is already planning on retiring at the next election. We are halfway through the term … so we won’t know for a while who is going to go,” a Labor Party source said.

“Queensland has fixed four-year terms so some of these guys might not want to go around again.”

One Labor MP said: “All male MPs are affected by the AA rule, all should be aware of that.”

Mr Russo, 66, who holds the south Brisbane seat of Toohey on a safe 14.5 per cent margin, said he wanted to contest his seat again but would comply if the party asked him to go. “I wouldn’t be happy obviously, but I understand the policy,” he said.

“I don’t want to be disloyal to the party; I would probably state my case but I would do that in confidence. I wouldn’t make anything public.

“In politics, I think it is very important to be a team player, and I like to think that I am.”

Mr Russo, a lawyer who has held his seat since 2015, said he supported the affirmative action policy but had not given much thought to whether it would affect him. “It is not a priority for me. I am more interested in working hard for my electorate for the next two years,” he said.

“I haven’t heard anything official, nobody has tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘It is time Pete’. I would like the opportunity to put my hand up for preselection again for the 2024 election.”

Member for Ipswich West Jim Madden.

Mr Madden, who holds Ip­swich West on a 14.3 per cent margin, believes his seat is a “must win” for Labor.

“For every day leading up to the 2024 election, I will be doing everything I can to ensure that I retain the seat for the ALP.”

ALP state secretary Kate Flanders described the party’s affirmative action policy as an “incentive rule” and said no sitting MPs would be forced to retire. “The rules are there to change the culture and they have; we have a very proud record of increasing female representation in the parliament,” she said.

“It is about moving the culture forward and identifying great women who want to run in those winnable seats and so that is certainly something we will be aiming to do in the 2024 round.”

Labor introduced an affirmative action policy in 1994, mandating a 35 per cent preselection quota for women in winnable seats at all elections by 2002.

In 2015, it was decided this would increase to 45 per cent by 2022 and 50 per cent from 2025.

“The winnable definition is based on the information we have at the time. It is a bit of a complicated rule but we have been effective at meeting those targets,” Ms Flanders said.

Another Labor insider said preselection for the next election would be “very, very interesting … There is a potential you will lose good candidates at the expense of gender quotas and factional play”.

At the last state election, Labor endorsed 53 men and 40 women. Of the LNP candidates, 67 were men and 26 were women.

Mr Furner and Mr Hinchliffe were contacted for comment.