Australia: Women’s Lib(eral Party)
Source: The Monthly
Linda Reynolds’ newfound enthusiasm for quotas ignores the many reasons women are turning away from her party.
There is no doubt that the Liberal Party has a lot of work to do in order to, as deputy leader Sussan Ley kept saying on Monday’s explosive Four Corners, “get our house in order”. Last night’s airing of grievances over the NSW preselection stoush made everyone look bad. What’s more, it confirmed that the NSW factions still openly hate one another – viewing each other as a “cancer” – and have learnt little from their loss at the federal election. Neither, it seems, has Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Although he is on leave this week, Dutton made it clear on his way out the door that he ain’t spending any time on it, telling The Australian that he would not be wallowing or conducting an extended election post-mortem. “It’s important for your supporter bases, whether it’s members or general supporters, to have something to fight for and not constantly be on the defensive,” he said. Sure, Peter. There is one woman, however, who thinks she may have a solution to the party’s woes: former defence minister Linda Reynolds, who has this week launched a campaign for gender quotas. But only temporary ones. “Targets with teeth”, as she called them on ABC radio this morning, in a reminder that using the word “quota” is still akin to pulling teeth for the Liberal Party.
Click here to read the full article published by The Monthly on 5 July 2022.
Linda Reynolds’ newfound enthusiasm for quotas ignores the many reasons women are turning away from her party.
There is no doubt that the Liberal Party has a lot of work to do in order to, as deputy leader Sussan Ley kept saying on Monday’s explosive Four Corners, “get our house in order”. Last night’s airing of grievances over the NSW preselection stoush made everyone look bad. What’s more, it confirmed that the NSW factions still openly hate one another – viewing each other as a “cancer” – and have learnt little from their loss at the federal election. Neither, it seems, has Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Although he is on leave this week, Dutton made it clear on his way out the door that he ain’t spending any time on it, telling The Australian that he would not be wallowing or conducting an extended election post-mortem. “It’s important for your supporter bases, whether it’s members or general supporters, to have something to fight for and not constantly be on the defensive,” he said. Sure, Peter. There is one woman, however, who thinks she may have a solution to the party’s woes: former defence minister Linda Reynolds, who has this week launched a campaign for gender quotas. But only temporary ones. “Targets with teeth”, as she called them on ABC radio this morning, in a reminder that using the word “quota” is still akin to pulling teeth for the Liberal Party.
Click here to read the full article published by The Monthly on 5 July 2022.