Liberals divided on woman quota debate

Liberals split over quotas for women after Scott Morrison endorsed the move and warned the status quo isn’t working.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison shows the strain during his news conference at Parliament House on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

The Liberal Party is bitterly divided over quotas for women after Scott Morrison endorsed the measure and warned the status quo was not working, as a growing number of his MPs spoke out in favour of having a debate in a bid to boost female representation.

The Prime Minister has been advocating internally for quotas and will continue doing so, but it will ultimately be up to the Liberal Party divisions to form their positions on the quota issue.

Only 25.4 per cent of Liberal MPs across federal and state parliaments were women in July last year, compared with 22.4 per cent of MPs in May 2015 — an increase of just 3 per cent in four years.

Labor, by stark contrast, has ­increased its female representation from 11.82 per cent to 47.87 per cent since it introduced a quota in 1994.

Mr Morrison said on Tuesday he was open to a conversation about quotas as he called out the “rubbish and crap” women have experienced in workplaces across the nation, saying he believed the Liberal appetite for mandated female participation was changing.

“I want to give them (women) every support I can,” he said. “But I am making it pretty clear that when it comes that issue, I don’t hold the same reservations that others do. Why? We tried it the other way and it isn’t getting us the results we would like to see so I would like to see us do better on that front.”

Government sources said there were hopes that if and when a couple of states signed on, other state executives would follow suit.

Industry Minister Karen Andrews speaks to reporters yesterday. Picture: Getty Images

Industry Minister Karen Andrews said on Tuesday that she was open to a debate about using quotas, as she blasted the workplace culture inside Parliament House, declaring she had had an “absolute gutful”.

Liberal backbencher Katie Allen and Victorian senator Jane Hume said they would back ­quotas if it led to more female representation in parliament.

“We need to have women in the decision-making room,” Dr Allen said. “I’m open to quotas if it helps make that happen. There is a real mood for change. It’s actions not words that matter now.”

Senator Hume said the Liberal Party needed to be more open to ideas that could boost the number of women in politics.

“Programs and solutions should be federally supported and co-ordinated in partnership with our state colleagues,” she said. “It is a task we can only accomplish together as a party.”

Education Minister Alan Tudge said “we need to consider all options”. But Social Services Minister Anne Ruston, speaking on behalf of the South Australian federal Liberal team, said: “We do not subscribe to enforcing equality of outcome. In South Australia, 80 per cent of the new candidates we have preselected for the upcoming state and federal elections are women.

“We are showing we can achieve great change in other ways and SA is a great example on how affirmative action can occur without quotas.

“It is incumbent upon all members and senators to do everything in their power to support female party members.”

One Liberal MP who did not want to be named said quotas were a “disaster” and the party should not go near them.

“It would be crazy. We would be fundamentally breaching one of the tenants of our party: merit-based selection,” they said.

A Menzies Research Centre report, written by outgoing SA Liberal MP Nicolle Flint and the organisation’s executive director Nick Cater, said quotas were “understandably unpalatable to many Liberal men and women”.