Liberals slam gender quotas as ‘disgraceful' and ‘antithetical' in leaked messages
The latest discord followed a meeting of the NSW Liberal Women's Council on Wednesday night, where attenders said a majority of the women were in support of quotas and broad cultural change after May's federal election loss.
The WhatsApp chat exploded after the meeting's quotas discussion, which followed a public petition for quotas, endorsed by Hilma's Network founder, Charlotte Mortlock, the president and vice-president of the women's council, and former NSW Liberal MP Rob Stokes, with his wife, Sophie.
The petition, created after the federal election, has 500 verified signatures as of Friday. It urges for quotas in the Liberal party to be established 'immediately' and claims the 'frustrations of women, both Liberal members and voters, continue to fall on deaf ears'.
In the messages, the former Young Liberals president, Alex Dore, compared the quota push to the Liberal party putting former construction union leader John Setka into a leadership position.
'Gender quotas are as antithetical to most Liberals as putting Labor trade unionists like John Setka on the party's board of directors,' he wrote to the WhatsApp group.
Another member said it was 'disgraceful' and 'unbelievable', and that they had 'never seen anything like this'.
The group consists of about 50 Liberal members, including the former Liberal vice-president Teena McQueen, with most heralding from the right wing of the party.
Guardian Australia has not seen the text messages but has spoken with multiple group members who have verified the contents.
One Liberal source, who was not in the chat, described it as a small and 'cranky' group while another party source said they believed the purpose of the leak was to 'damage' the conversation on quotas and cultural reform.
The current federal Liberal vice-president, and former MP, Fiona Scott, said she found it more disappointing that the Liberals had lost so many seats in the last decade.
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'What is disgraceful, there are more women sitting on the crossbench in former Liberal seats, than sitting on our side of the bench in the House of Representatives,' she said.
Party sources have told Guardian Australia a shift in sentiment could be emerging towards a quota plan, provided the right model can be agreed to. A rule change would require 60% support in a vote of the NSW state council.
There were no models or motions presented at the Women's Council meeting, and one member said it would take time for the right model to be debated and accepted.
Others in the party have publicly opposed quotas, including the frontbencher Angus Taylor, who has said he would actively campaign on 'sensible policies in line with Liberal values' to get more women into parliament. The new Liberal senator Jess Collins, aligned with Taylor, has also publicly opposed quotas.
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