Even the most trusting individual would be moved to raise an eyebrow at the latest advice proffered by former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott.
The man who once warned “the housewives of Australia” that ironing will become harder as energy costs increase, has apparently had a change of mind about the role of women in society. In fact, he’s issued a rallying call for his party to do more to bring them into the fold.
In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald last weekend, Abbott supported a point that most rational people in this country have put forward for years: That the Liberal Party is dead as a doornail if it fails to address its glaring issue with women.
“I want the parliamentary party to be more reflective of the general Australian community, namely to have more women and to be more diverse,” Abbott said, adding that doing so would in fact serve to “defuse identity politics by showing that the Liberal Party and Australia more generally really does judge people on merit and is prepared to give anyone and everyone a fair go if they’re ready to have a go for us and for our country more generally.”
But despite these oddly sage words from Abbott, the truth remains that the Liberal Party is no closer to attracting and championing more women than it is to tabling capital gains tax reform.
Indeed, in recent weeks, we’ve witnessed not just complacency, but major pushback from the Liberal Party on building up its pipeline of women.
A fortnight ago, for example, two female candidates lost to former MP Tim Wilson in the Liberal party’s preselection vote for the electorate of Goldstein. Stephanie Hunt, a lawyer and former Liberal staffer to former Foreign Ministers Julie Bishop and Marise Payne, was in the running for the preselection vote, as well as Colleen Harkin, a research fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs who had previously run as a candidate for the Liberal party in the neighbouring Victorian electorate of Macnamara.
Two supremely qualified women in contention, and yet the Liberal Party lobbed Wilson back with steely determination. (For the record, Wilson lost the trust of Goldstein in sensational fashion when Teal Independent Zoe Daniel usurped him in 2022. Wilson’s primary vote dropped by more than 12 per cent).
Around the same time last month, Liberal Senator, Alex Antic managed to convince South Australian party members to knock former minister Anne Ruston off the top of the South Australian Senate ticket, labelling the party’s persistent and pervasive gender gap little more than a “grievance narrative”.
In the last year, several similar outcomes have transpired. Scott Morrison was replaced by a man in the safe seat of Cook. Former transport Minister Andrew Constance stamped out another male candidate for the seat of Gilmore. Former senator Ben Small was the lone candidate to succeed outgoing MP Nola Marino.
Meanwhile, Julie Bishop’s former seat of Curtin will see Tom White, a businessman from Western Australia attempt to overthrow popular Teal MP, Kate Chaney. (Good luck).
It’s hard to pinpoint Abbott’s motivation over speaking out on the issue: maybe he’s bored, maybe he’s trying to rub some colleagues the wrong way or maybe he’s trying to position himself as a possible replacement for Dutton.
While it’s hard to imagine Abbott speaking from a place of altruism, perhaps it’s fair to credit him speaking from a place of resignation.
Because as a former Women’s Minister himself, he must surely understand what’s at stake if the Liberal Party continues to uphold the sausage fest.