Women campaign against LNP quotas

The women’s arm of Queensland’s LNP has launched an internal campaign against gender quotas as the party continues to grapple with a lack of female representation.

Queensland LNP MP Fiona Simpson. Picture: Dan Peled

The women’s arm of Queensland’s Liberal National Party has launched an internal campaign against gender quotas as the party continues to grapple with a lack of female representation.

LNP Women on Thursday passed a resolution to block quotas, instead endorsing candidates being “selected on merit”. Their resolution will be put to the floor at the LNP’s annual three-day state convention, which begins in Brisbane on Friday.

After haemorrhaging support over his handling of sexual violence and harassment in politics earlier this year, Mr Morrison publicly said he had been “open” to quotas for some time and believed other Liberals “have been coming to this view over time”.

“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,” Mr Morrison said in March.

“There has never been a more important time for women to stand in this place (parliament). I want to see more women in this place. I have done many things to get more women in this place and I intend to do more.”

Mr Morrison was left red-faced weeks later when his Assistant Women’s Minister Amanda Stoker was relegated to third position on the Queensland Senate ticket, behind two men.

Queensland’s LNP snubbed Mr Morrison’s push for a “strong female” to replace dumped MP Andrew Laming in the seat of Bowman at this month’s preselection, picking the only man in the five-way race.

Quotas would require each state division to change its rules.

Labor introduced an affirmative action policy in 1994 and ALP female representation in parliament has surged from 12 per cent to 48 per cent. In contrast, only 25 per cent of Liberal MPs across federal and state parliaments last July were women.

Of the 93 candidates endorsed by the LNP at last year’s Queensland election, 67 were men and 26 women.

At Friday’s closed-door meeting to overhaul the LNP constitution, only one of the 167 proposed changes is aimed at increasing female representation.

Put forward by Rachel Connors, a branch member on Brisbane’s southside, the motion forces the party to ensure at least one woman is nominated at every preselection for all state and federal seats.

A further 108 policy motions will be considered in a public session on Sunday, including a push for a new working committee to set “realistic targets” to improve female representation.

Fiona Simpson, Queensland’s current longest-serving female LNP member, said the party needed to consider offering financial support for female candidates who have to juggle campaigning for 18 months and running a small business.