‘Lost our way’: Calls for Liberal Party to change its approach to women

Linda Reynolds said her party had ‘lost our way’ while Kate Chaney said the snubbing of Julie Bishop was a ‘sliding doors’ moment for the Liberals.

Peter Dutton, centre, with Liberal candidate Jan-Henrik Norberger and Liberal senator Linda Reynolds during the campaign. Picture: Getty Images

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Two of the most prominent West Australian women in federal politics have urged the Liberal Party to rethink its approach to women in the wake of the weekend’s disastrous election result.

Retiring Liberal senator Linda Reynolds and teal independent Kate Chaney – who successfully fought off a $1m-plus campaign from the Liberals to win back her seat of Curtin – on Monday both argued that the party needs to repair its standing with women if it is to return as a political force.

Senator Reynolds, a former defence minister, on Monday morning described her party’s un­successful campaign as a “catastrophic failure” and called for the party to back Sussan Ley as its next leader.

Speaking on ABC Radio in Perth, she said the Liberal Party had “lost our way” in part because of its approach to women.

She said the decision to preselect former senator Ben Small as the party’s candidate for the seat of Forrest, where he was replacing retiring local member Nola Marino, was a missed opportunity to bring another woman into the party’s ranks.

While she said she had great respect for Mr Small, who narrowly retained the seat in the face of a sizeable swing to Labor, the seat could have been used to improve the party’s female representation.

Senator Reynolds wants to see Sussan Ley become the next federal Liberal Party leader. Picture: Sharon Smith/NewsWire

“Quite frequently women get preselected into seats that are very difficult to win, so when they do win they’re the first to lose when there’s an electoral swing,” she said. “As a party, we’ve been slow to understand that women bring great benefits to the party (as) fabulous local members.”

While Senator Reynolds’ WA colleague Andrew Hastie has been touted as a possible replacement for Peter Dutton as party leader, the senator said she wanted to see Ms Ley in the role.

“I am very favourably disposed towards Sussan Ley, who I think would be a great and a very healing and receptive leader for our party,” she said.

“I’m not sure Andrew’s definitely putting his hand up, so I’ll have a look to see who does put their hand up. But I would certainly like to see a woman up.”

Ms Chaney, meanwhile, said the 2018 decision by the Liberals to look past Julie Bishop for the party leadership had been a critical moment for the way the party was perceived by women around the country.

“I certainly think that when the Liberal Party knocked back Julie Bishop and chose Scott Morrison instead, it was a sliding-door ­moment for the (party),” she said.

“A lot of women looked at that point and thought, ‘this does not look like a party that represents me’.

“I hope that the Coalition can have a good look at what a pathway into politics looks like for women and avoid becoming irrelevant by ensuring that it can represent the full gamut of people.”

Independent MP Kate Chaney says snubbing Julie Bishop for the party leadership was a grave mistake. Picture: Getty Images

Ms Chaney defeated Liberal candidate Tom White for the seat, which historically was the Liberal Party’s crown jewel in the west.

She said the party risked becoming a fringe conservative party if it did not move back towards the moderate centre.

The independent movement, she said, had shown itself to be a much better option for women wanting to get involved in politics than the Coalition, where she said females “had a really tough time”.

“I’d like to see the Liberal Party have a good look at the path that it’s providing for women,” she said.

“But fundamentally, it comes down to the policies and the leadership and working out what it stands for and what vision it’s actually providing to Australia.”