Australia

Women in the Labor caucus have come under fire from the ‘sisterhood’ for siding with the men who brought down Julia Gillard. By comparison, the men who actually orchestrated the rise and fall of our first female Prime Minister, got off relatively easy.

Senator Penny Wong got the worst of it, with Coalition Senator Michaelia Cash, launching a scathing attack on the Finance Minister in the Senate this afternoon. Senator Cash captured the attention of the media when she accused Penny Wong of stabbing Julia Gillard in the back and betraying the sisterhood.

A political lobby group is pushing for a female candidate to replace long-term Labor MP Martin Ferguson when he steps down from politics in September.

The 59-year-old announced that he would not contest his safe inner-Melbourne seat of Batman at the upcoming election on Wednesday, prompting calls from Emily’s List, a group pushing for greater representation of women in parliament.

National co-convenor Tanja Kovac told Fairfax Media it was important to have a woman step up for the role, which has been held by Ferguson since 1996.