Demoting four senior women is not an ideal move for the first female leader of the Liberal Party

Sussan Ley can’t escape the fact only a third of her shadow cabinet is female. It is not ideal for the first woman to lead the Liberal Party.

Demoting four senior women is not an ideal move for the first female leader of the Liberal Party, but Sussan Ley is having to dance with the ones that brought her.

Ms Ley has long advocated for more women to enter her party and her new frontbench does uplift several newcomers, but she can’t escape the fact only a third of her shadow cabinet is female.

In the week leading up to the Liberal leadership ballot, supporters of Angus Taylor complained Ms Ley was effectively using the promise of plum jobs to shift votes – a charge her own camp denied.

Given Mr Taylor later helped orchestrate the defection of Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price to the Liberal party room, the use of questionable tactics was not unique to either side.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman

But as Ms Ley emerged victorious, it is she who must now pay her dues.

Key supporters have been elevated into senior positions and, unfortunately for Ms Ley’s optics, many of those backers happened to be men.

True to her word, Ms Ley’s senior team also includes those who did not vote for her – Mr Taylor chief among them.

The rotation of Mr Taylor into defence, Andrew Hastie into home affairs and James Paterson into finance had a cascading effect that resulted in Jane Hume ending up on the backbench.

Despite Ms Hume’s moderate colleagues’ frustration at her unwavering support for Mr Taylor, and the party room at large still fuming over the disastrous anti-work from home election policy, her dumping was still a big shock.

Jane Hume, Sarah Henderson and Claire Chandler.

Add to this the ousting of Sarah Henderson and Claire Chandler from the shadow cabinet, and Ms Price’s demotion to an outer ministry position.

The latter may have been self-inflicted, but it all compounds Ms Ley’s gender balance woes.

Having more women on the frontbench isn’t the only way for the Liberals to regain public support, but as Ms Ley knows, representation sends an important signal to the electorate.

Originally published as Demoting four senior women is not an ideal move for the first female leader of the Liberal Party