More Liberal women needed

It is understandable that Liberal women are coming to the defence of their party over claims of poor gender representation in parliament and bullying within its ranks. This week, assistant ministers Sarah Henderson and Linda Reynolds and MP Nicolle Flint rejected these assertions and accused Labor of playing the gender card. The Liberal Party can point to a history of supporting and promoting women: Enid Lyons was the first female minister, Annabelle Rankin the first minister with a portfolio, and Margaret Guilfoyle the first minister in cabinet to administer a department.

But the party cannot live in the past. The low number of women and the claims of bullying cannot be ignored. Put simply, there should be more female Liberal MPs. Of 83 Liberal MPs, just 19 are female. Labor has 95 MPs, of whom 44 are female. Evidently, as Tanya Plibersek pointed out, Labor has more than twice the number of women MPs and double the number of women on its frontbench. Worryingly, Liberals could see a further reduction in women MPs after the next election. NSW MP Ann Sudmalis has opted to quit, saying she was subject to intimidation and branch stacking, while Queensland MP Jane Prentice lost preselection. Minister Kelly O’Dwyer acknowledged some Liberal women have faced bullying. Former deputy leader Julie Bishop has spoken of Canberra’s “appalling culture”. Rebel MP Julia Banks and senator Lucy Gichuhi have also backed claims of bullying, although lacking specific evidence.

The answer is not to impose a rigid system of affirmative-action quotas or loadings in preselections, as Labor does, which can deny women promotion on merit. But setting a target is different. In 2015, Bill Shorten set a goal of 50 per cent female MPs by 2025 — and could meet it this year. Chief whip Nola Marino, Ms Bishop and Ms Flint are encouraging women to join the party and run for parliament. Active mentoring is part of the answer. The men also need to take responsibility, as NSW MP Jason Falinski suggests, by having party leaders headhunt women who could be MPs and encouraging them to stand for preselection.