Queensland Liberal women ditch gender quota bid

The women’s arm of Queensland’s Liberal National Party has abandoned a vote on gender quotas ahead of the party‘s state convention this weekend.

Federal deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The women’s arm of Queensland’s Liberal National Party has abandoned a vote on gender quotas ahead of the party‘s state convention this weekend.

An emergency motion was due be put forward by Moncrieff branch members at a meeting of LNP Women on Thursday, calling on the party to strive for “equal representation” of men and women during preselection.

The motion needed a 75 per cent majority to be added as a last-minute agenda item and be put to the LNP’s annual three-day state convention, which begins in Brisbane on Friday.

Party sources told The Australian the motion was abandoned over fears it would not receive the three-quarter majority required and there was no fat in the weekend’s agenda for extra debate.

Ahead of last year’s convention the LNP Women passed a resolution to block quotas, instead endorsing candidates being “selected on merit”.

None of the 63 policy motions to be considered in public sessions during the weekend convention is aimed at increasing female representation in parliament, but gender quotas could still be discussed during closed-door sessions.

Half a dozen public motions target women’s issues, including cracking down on drink spiking and career workshops for mothers on maternity leave.

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

Senior women in the party, including federal deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley, have been urging Liberals to consider gender quotas after the Coalition’s bruising defeat in May.

“I will be working tirelessly over the next three years to convince the women of Australia that the Liberal Party is the best party to represent their interests, and that if they wish to serve in public life, the party they should seek to represent,” Ms Ley told The Australian earlier in the week while on a “listening tour” of the nation.

Quotas would require each state division to change its rules.

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. This increased to 45 per cent this year and from 2025 will be 50 per cent.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison’s handling of alleged sexual violence in politics is widely believed to have resulted in women across the country turning away from the Coalition at the May 21 poll. Five Liberal men lost seats to “teal” independents who campaigned on gender equality, and of the 18 seats that changed hands, 14 were won by women.

Federal opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume, who opposes quotas, said the election result might be the wake-up call branches needed to preselect more women.