Karen Andrews has urged the Liberal Party to work on supporting more female candidates in the wake of Cameron Caldwell’s preselection in the Queensland seat of Fadden.
Andrews, a former Coalition minister, says the party must implement the recommendations of its election review, which offered suggestions on ways to boost the number of Liberal women in parliament.
Speaking to Nine papers, Andrews said she was disappointed there were only five people who nominated for preselection in Fadden ahead of the byelection in the safe seat, due to be held in July.
There was only one woman – local branch chair and business person Fran Ward – among the five people nominated for the seat. On Saturday, local Gold Coast city councillor Cameron Caldwell won the preselection battle.
In Queensland, the LNP has just three women in the house of representatives in federal parliament.
One of the key recommendations of the Liberal Party’s election review was to adopt a target of 50 per cent female representation within 10 years.
Andrews has announced she will leave parliament at the end of this term, vacating her Gold Coast seat of McPherson. Andrews is among the most experienced women in the Liberal Party.
Founder of Hilma’s Network Charlotte Mortlock recently gave an address at the Sydney Institute, where she called for the Liberal Party to start embracing new people and new ideas.
“I am not saying that women should be handed seats on a platter. I am not saying that women don’t need to work very hard if they want the gig. I am saying sometimes we will need to look past the dude who’s been working the branch for 15 years,” Mortlock said.
“For this party to come back, what we desperately need is fresh blood. The public wants to see a new fresh Liberal Party, so why is it so hard to get new people climbing the ranks? And who is resistant to changing that?
“The answer is those who currently hold power internally, perhaps they don’t want to relinquish some personal power for the greater good of the party, perhaps they’re nervous that new people would be more impressive than them and ruin their own ambitions. Perhaps they’re scared of change, of new ideas and new perspectives. All of these are weak attributes and we are not supposed to be a weak party.”
Mortlock founded Hilma’s Network last year to encourage more women to join the Liberal Party. It has launched a gender representation tracker, showing women make up just 29 per cent of Coalition representatives in federal parliament.