Discussion Paper
4. Reflecting the community
The average Australian is a 38-year-old woman.
She was either born overseas or has at least one parent who was.
She may or may not have kids; she may or may not have housemates.
She’s not particularly engaged in politics. But she’s concerned the Liberals don’t look like her or speak to her aspirations.
For too many Australians, including previous long-term Liberal voters, our parliamentary wing is not representative of them.
If the Liberal Party is to survive in the long term, this must change urgently.
The problem faced by the Liberal Party in attracting and selecting female candidates in winnable federal electorates has been well documented and debated.
This is not just a representation issue – it negatively impacts the Party’s ability to win votes.
As the Menzies Research 2017 ‘Gender and politics’ update stated:
“We cannot place enough emphasis on how important it is for the Liberal Party to achieve change. The electoral data is clear. We have lost ground to the Labor Party in terms of the female vote.”
The Liberal Party Federal Executive has previously passed motions with targets.2
However, in the absence of further measures, it is clear they are not being achieved.
Previous election reviews have noted the need for training and mentoring.
To this end the Liberal Party has established the Margaret Guilfoyle Network, while informal networks like Hilma’s Network have also been established to encourage and empower Liberal aligned women.
State Divisions and Women’s Councils have put significant effort into training and mentoring women through such programs as Take the Lead (Qld), Blueprint 2025 and Emergent Women (WA), the Liberal Women’s Forum (NSW), the Prospective Candidates Program and Dame Elizabeth Couchman Scholarship (VIC), as well as other informal support programs.
Since 2017, the Liberal Party has tracked the number of female members, branch presidents, preselection candidates. Over the past 8 years, despite all these efforts, the Liberal Party has gone backwards both in Parliamentary female representation and within our organisation.
The current state of female representation
- In the House of Representatives, just 21% of Liberal Members are women, meaning men outnumber women four to one among Liberal MPs.
- In the Senate, women make up approximately 48% of Liberal Party senators.
- When combining both chambers, women account for only 33% of Liberal federal parliamentarians. The ALP’s party room comprises more than 50% women.
- Across all Australian parliaments (federal, state, and territory), just 33% of Liberal (and LNP) parliamentarians are women, trailing behind Labor’s 53%.
It is increasingly clear that if serious progress is to be made in delivering greater gender balance in our parliamentary team, additional measures will be required.
None of them would be easy or without complication or resistance from some.
However, if we want a different outcome, we need to be prepared to do things differently.
Below are a number of options the Liberal Party could consider (either separately or in combination) to increase the proportion of female candidates in winnable electorates.
Options for consideration
Next chapter
Footnotes:
2: In 2015, the Federal Executive of the Liberal Party adopted a target for female representation. The target was “to have women make up 50% of Liberal Party federal parliamentary representatives by 2025”. This target has not been met.
In 2023, the Federal Executive formally agreed to the Hume-Loughnane Review recommendation that it “adopt a target of 50% female representation within our Parliamentary ranks within ten years or three terms, and to adopt practical measures to increase the female representation in the Parliament as quickly as possible.” Without change, this target will be very difficult to meet.
