2018/12: Should the Liberal Party use quotas to get more women into Parliament?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: On September 12, 2018, the ABC ran a fact check revealing the extent of female parliamentary representation within the Liberal Party over the last two decades.What they said...
' Women are unquestionably destined to exercise more and more influence upon practical politics in Australia'
Sir Robert Menzies, founder of the Liberal Party, speaking in 1944
'It's...demeaning to sit in a Parliamentary party room for 20 years without seeing a progressive increase in the number of women members'
Judith Troeth, former Liberal Senator (1993-2011) seeking a quota for women in 2010
The issue at a glance
On September 12, 2018, Liberal MP Julia Banks joined those calling for quotas within the Liberal party to increase the number of Liberal women in the federal parliament. Ms Banks stated, 'It's really simple, if you only have a man running and there's no woman, find one. They're out there.'
On September 10, 2018, former Liberal frontbencher Craig Laundy, who quit the ministry when Malcolm Turnbull was removed as prime minister, also called for quotas,
while on September 6, 2018, Sussan Ley, Assistant Minister for Regional Development and Territories in the Morrison Liberal government, similarly called for quotas. These demands from within the Liberal party have been supported by former Labor Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who has urged the Liberal party to rethink its position on quotas.
Liberal Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, while supporting measures being taken to increase the number of women within the parliamentarian Liberal Party, is opposed to quotas, believing that gender should not take priority over merit.