Scott Morrison chairs first women’s cabinet taskforce meeting

Scott Morrison says the gathering of female ministers is a ‘high-water mark’ for women’s representation in the government.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses the Cabinet Womens Task Force Meeting at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has chaired the first meeting of his new women’s cabinet taskforce in Canberra, as he aims to turn the page of a month of damaging revelations over sexual assault and boorish behaviour in Parliament House.

The Prime Minister was flanked at the taskforce meeting by Women’s Minister and Foreign Minister Marise Payne, whom he dubbed the “prime minister for women” last week.

Mr Morrison said the gathering of female ministers was a “high-water mark” for women’s representation in the federal government, and he wanted more women in his ranks.

“This is a group that is the largest group, combined with the central agencies represented here, the largest group of women who have ever been represented in a Federal Cabinet,” he told the taskforce.

“This, I think, is a high watermark that I would like to see rise even higher in the future.

“And the calibre and the credibility of the women who sit around this table, combined with the experience of the other members, I think bring the right experience, the right lens, the right focus and the right priorities and importantly, the right values as to how we can address these critical issues.”

Senator Payne – the taskforce’s co-chair – said the focus of the taskforce in the next few weeks would be to respond to Sex Discrimation Commissioner Kate Jenkins’s Respect@Work report.

The Foreign Minister also flagged the female ministers would push for an “ambitious” budget program centred on Australian women.

“This Taskforce is vitally important for the work that we are going to do. Important to accelerate and co-ordinate our efforts to deliver for Australian women right across this country,” she said.

“What the past two months, though, have underscored for us as a Government and as a nation is the depth of the issues that impact women, particularly in relation to violence and harassment, particularly in relation to workplace issues.”

Also present at the meeting were Josh Frydenberg, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, new Attorney-General Michaelia Cash, Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, Social Services Minister Anne Ruston, Environment Minister Sussan Ley, Defence Industry Minister Melissa Price, Financial Services Minister Jane Hume and Assistant Minister for Women Amanda Stoker.

Recently demoted Government Services Minister Linda Reynolds also attended. She left the Defence portfolio after taking a month off over a heart condition, in the midst of questions of her handling of an allegation former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins was raped in her office. The Australian later revealed she had called Ms Higgins a “lying cow” in front of her staffers.

Mr Morrison unveiled the taskforce last week to reorient the government’s policies on women’s issues. He has added women’s safety to Senator Ruston’s portfolio, women’s economic security to Senator Hume’s areas, and added women’s issues to Senator Stoker’s current positions as assistant minister to the Attorney-General.