Progressive women in the party are being told to know their place, or fight on the right side of the culture wars, or stay quiet. If not, they’re elbowed out and have their noses rubbed in their defeat.
After Gwen Cherne was soundly defeated in the preselection for Scott Morrison’s safe seat of Cook last month, one aspiring female politician observed that the only way a professional woman with small-l liberal leanings could get into parliament was to become a teal.
NSW Senator Maria Kovacic is not frightened to fight back. Last week, Kovacic wrote a blistering letter to state presidentdemanding an inquiry into allegations by the elected Women’s Council president Berenice Walker that a male member of the state executive sought to remove her from a meeting by claiming she was not entitled to be there.
With fewer than one in three female Coalition MPs across all Australian parliaments, liberal women oscillate between anger and despair.Retiring Senator Linda Reynolds says the power of women was shown at the 2022 election. “Fewer than 30 per cent of women voted Liberal, and women defeated us in 14 of the 18 seats we lost,” she said.“Until the party understands and harnesses the electoral power of women, mathematically it appears impossible for Peter Dutton to become our next prime minister.
“We have a choice,” Archer says. “We can continue to say the party does not represent me and walk away or get involved and fight for it.” In his preselection speech, Antic complained that “we are living in a world where governments can’t even define women”. Liberal candidates are now warned to have the definition ready because it is asked so often by preselectors.
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