Frontbencher proposes alternative to quotas as Liberal party agonises over gender imbalance

The Guardian

3 days ago

The Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has called for the party to consider gender-balanced candidate pools as an alternative to quotas, as close to 100 women took part in a nearly three-hour meeting on Wednesday night on building gender diversity in the opposition.
Party insiders in New South Wales say support for quotas is building, but any major reform to match Labor's rules first introduced in the mid-1990s is likely to take years.
McIntosh, the shadow women's minister, wrote to the NSW Women's Council president, Berenice Walker, this week, urging the discussion not be reduced to a yes or no on quotas.
'Strong systems help open the door, but it is the party's culture that determines whether women stay, thrive, and reach the heights of leadership and success,' McIntosh wrote.
She said she was open to quotas or some other mechanism for change, but warned addressing the party's culture needed to come first.
'A structural re-design might consider gender-balanced candidate pools to ensure equality of opportunity – consistent with our values – rather than prescribing outcomes.
'We should also examine leadership pipelines, mentorship initiatives, and other evidence-based mechanisms that reflect our principles. Culture and structure must evolve together.'
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A candidate pool model would be similar to the 'A-list' of candidates for preselections introduced in Britain's Conservative party by the former prime minister David Cameron.
Cameron put a freeze on candidate selection and introduced a priority list, with half of the list to be female and a large number to be from minority backgrounds.
At Wednesday's meeting the council did not settle on a model for change or next steps, but participants said there was majority support for quotas and other significant changes.
The NSW Young Liberals have called for a candidate pool model, and reiterated their support for it at their last meeting in May, following the federal election.
Before this week's meeting, Walker said there would be an 'open discussion' of quotas.
Those in the meeting said a majority of the participants, diverse in age, were in favour of quotas, with only a few speaking against them.
One senior party member said there was 'no rush' to put forward a model.
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They said it was unlikely that quotas, which would need to be added to the NSW Liberal constitution, and voted on by its state council, would be in place by the next state election in 2027.
'We're a long way away from it, because the structure is difficult,' they said.
The federal leader, Sussan Ley, has said she is 'agnostic' on the party's approach to change, but told the National Press Club in June she was a 'zealot' on recruiting more women.
The frontbencher Angus Taylor, who Ley defeated for the leadership, has publicly opposed quotas, and said it would 'subvert democratic processes', pointing instead towards more mentorship within the party.
Vocal supporters for quotas, including the NSW senator Maria Kovacic, have called for more immediate action.
Kovacic said she would support temporary quotas with a sunset period, and firm expiry date, to get more Liberal members over the line.
'Achieving this goal will likely take two election cycles … Once that balance is reached, we can return to the existing system with confidence that equity has been successfully embedded,' she said.
'A sunset clause would be an appropriate mechanism to ensure the temporary nature of a quota system.'