Albanese has broken a record for female MPs but when will Labor see another female leader?

Australia Broadcast Center

17-05-2025

Anthony Albanese's re-elected government includes a record number of female MPs, but insiders worry there's a long road ahead to promote women to top leadership roles.
One arm crossed her body as the other raised to her face. Anika Wells was standing mere metres from the king's representative, who was set to swear her into office as Australia's new communications minister.
But she wouldn't be the first in her family to have a vice-regal interaction this morning.
With one eye peeking around the corner, five fingers of her almost-five-year-old's left hand waved at Governor-General Sam Mostyn.
But his gaze wouldn't last long, soon distracted by the football his twin brother had just punted into the room.
Mostyn, a former AFL commissioner, had mere seconds earlier foreshadowed what was about to unfold.
"There's footy about to happen," she told the Labor frontbenchers and their families who'd travelled to Government House to be sworn in as ministers of the crown. "It's Queensland footy though."
"Are these your children?" she asked Wells.
"Yes," she replied.
What came next captured the moment Australia now finds itself in.
Mostyn, when she was sworn in, pledged she'd be an optimistic, modern and visible governor-general. She respects institutions and traditions, but freely dispenses with protocol when required. On Tuesday morning she did just that.
She insisted the children come in, Wells's husband too. Then, speaking directly to the children, the governor-general told them they now had the best seats in the house.
"Do you reckon you can hang there while we do this?" Mostyn asked the twins and their older sister.
Anika Wells's family looks on as she's sworn in. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts )
They watched on as their mum was called forward, herself a reflection of modernity.
Wells is a mother of three who gave birth to twins while in office. And at just 39, she's the cabinet's youngest member. And she's rejoining the Labor's caucus that will now likely include 70 women — or about 57 per cent.
Across the House of Representatives, women will occupy just shy of half the seats (46 per cent). Women will make up about 60 per cent of the Senate.
Despite the Labor caucus and cabinet reflecting the Australian public more than ever before — and far outstripping gender balance in their opponents — internally, frustrations are growing that Labor's top leadership positions aren't keeping pace with the change.
And the people, they say, who lose out are those who don't fit in the old boys' club.
Anthony Albanese has an opportunity in his landslide win. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts )
Second-term opportunities
Anthony Albanese suddenly finds himself in rare air.
Having been delivered a parliament with a substantial majority, Labor need only negotiate with the Greens or the Coalition to pass laws.
He's won a landslide, he has a parliament he can work with and an opposition so diminished that it will likely take two terms to recover.
But despite an overwhelmingly large and female majority, Labor can't be complacent by believing that the work is done.
When parliament returns, sitting opposite him will be the first woman to lead the Liberal Party, Sussan Ley — despite her party's much smaller number of women.
On his left flank will be the Greens' second female leader, Larissa Waters.
Since 2019, Labor has been led by two men — Albanese and Richard Marles. Prior to that, since 2001 there had always been a woman as either leader or deputy (apart from a few months in 2013 when Albanese served as deputy to Kevin Rudd when he briefly returned to the prime ministership).
Clare O'Neil considered a tilt at deputy leader in 2019. ( ABC News: Luke Stephenson )
At the time, Victorian frontbencher Clare O'Neil, a member of the Right faction, wanted to run for deputy. The blokes who run the party thought otherwise.
At 38, O'Neil was told now is not your time.
The result was fellow Victorian right member Marles became Labor's deputy leader.
At the time, Labor figures put forward different reasons for why it wasn't O'Neil's time.
"She would prefer to go home and have a KitKat rather than go out and drink with the boys' club," a former O'Neil staffer offered to the ABC at the time. A colleague at the time was more dismissive: "Clare says she's doing politics differently but, at the end of the day, someone had to do the numbers for Jacinda Ardern to be leader."
Speaking to the ABC for this piece, a senior member of the party noted how well that factional play in 2019 had again worked out for the old boys' club.
Also lost to the leadership is arguably one of the party's best-known figures — Tanya Plibersek. Viewed as a leadership rival to Albanese, he's offered little grace to her since becoming PM, repeatedly undercutting her as environment minister in the first term and then moving her to social services in the second term.
Albanese, some colleagues say, doesn't see the issue. They say that's because all he sees are his two loyal lieutenants, Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher.
Penny Wong, Julia Gillard and Katy Gallagher during the election campaign. ( ABC News: Adam Kennedy )
Captain's picks
Watching on as Wells's children stole the show was a frontbench unlike anything that had come before.
The success of women, especially those from Queensland, has helped deliver Labor's Left faction control of the caucus.
While the Left has long been well supported at a rank-and-file level, within the party room, the Right has long been in control, especially when it comes to the leader. Albanese and Julia Gillard are the only Left faction figures to be PM.
On the current numbers, the Left will account for more than 51 per cent of Labor's party room, which has delivered the faction an extra spot on the frontbench.
The way Labor works is the factions put forward the names for the 30 frontbench positions and the leader assigns the roles.
The factions delivered Albanese a 30-person frontbench with gender equity. However, as prime minister, he gets the power to pick 12 people for outer-frontbench positions. And his appointments have raised eyebrows.
Just one-third of those he nominated were women.
Asked why that was this week, Albanese dodged the question:
"I think this is, in terms of the ministry and the cabinet, the most significant representation of women ever. Ever. And I think, you know, that's just a fact that it stands out, and I'm very proud to have so many women in very senior roles."
But what hasn't gone unnoticed within his ranks is that when given the chance to promote women, he opted for a lower percentage than even the old boys' club of the factions put forward.
"You just have to look at where all the power is in the government," an MP in Labor's Right told the ABC.
"The prime minister, his deputy, the treasurer, the health minister, they're all men.
"The only woman in a powerful position is Penny Wong."
Penny Wong at Labor's victory party. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito )
When Albanese took the stage to declare victory on May 3, it was Wong who introduced him at his acceptance speech, just as she had done three years earlier.
This doesn't happen by mistake.
As much as Marles enjoys the title of deputy prime minister, many forget he holds that role.
Some in the party wonder if the leader likes it that way.
It serves Labor well in the public's eyes for Wong to be seen as Albanese's deputy, a role she has in all but title. Wong, along with Health Minister Mark Butler, was a key figure in the Praetorian Guard that protected the prime minister in his first term.
Gallagher, too, is a close ally of Albanese, serving as minister for finance, minister for women, and minister for the public service since 2022. When Bill Shorten retired, Albanese added minister for government services to her collection of titles. She sits on every cabinet committee, works well with the treasurer, and serves as a steady hand who, along with Wong, leads the government.
Some have gone as far as to notice that for all the men with the titles and roles that let them determine who gets what, it's left to the women to do the work.
But the clock is ticking on this. Across the factions, a new generation of politicians, especially women, are feeling like the time is up. Their party has evolved, they argue, and it's now for some of the senior men to make way — if the infamous factions don't stand in the way.
Anthony Albanese and Sam Mostyn with Labor's female ministers this week. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts )
How Labor raised women
Yarralumla hallway footy wasn't Wells's only sporting moment since her re-election.
She was standing with the six other Labor women — including Ali France who ended Peter Dutton's decades-long political career — who had won their Queensland races.
"We have gone from one [Queensland] woman in the house to seven women in the house," Wells offered.
"We now have enough for an entire netball team and we are here if you need."
Ali France celebrates with her father Peter Lawlor and son Zac. ( AAP: Jono Searle )
That netball team Wells was talking about didn't just happen overnight. Rather, it was a three-decade project that culminated in a result that even shocked Labor luminaries.
Labor entered the election fearing it would barely hold on to its already dismal representation in Queensland. It emerged with not just a doubling of its MPs but an eightfold increase in the number of female MPs. They swept previously safe Liberal seats in aspirational electorates throughout Brisbane's suburbs, toppling even the opposition leader.
Liberal men have been inclined to call the kind of women who were standing behind Wells "quota queens" but it's those women who are now having the last laugh.
The project dates back to a spring day in September 1994.
Paul Keating emerged from Labor's national conference in Hobart — he told the waiting media — having overseen a change that would "be around when all of us are gone".
"I think that, by and large, the party has decided that the time has come, that we will be a stronger and better party if more women are represented," he told reporters.
At that conference were young delegates called Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong, and a political staffer called Tanya Plibersek.
The 1994 target was 35 per cent women preselected into held and winnable seats by 2002.
By 2002, the party increased the quota again, this time to 40 per cent by 2012.
By 2015, Plibersek was now Labor's deputy leader, having been elected in the class of 1998 alongside Gillard (Australia's first female PM) and Nicola Roxon (Australia's first female attorney-general).
Plibersek oversaw Labor's next, and final, gender-affirmative-action goal for women to make up half the party room. Like Keating, she was victorious in getting an enforceable quota of 50 per cent by 2025.
The women in Labor's 2022 ministry. ( ABC News: Matt Roberts )
Albanese presided over Australia's first majority female caucus in 2022. The success of Labor and teal independents saw record representation of women in the House of Representatives (38 per cent) and in the Senate (57 per cent). This was achieved despite the number of women in the Liberal Party going backwards.
In January, Albanese also became the first prime minister to have a cabinet with gender parity, a landmark achieved after the retirement of former leader Shorten and his replacement in Wells.
It was a milestone moment for the party. Not only was there now gender equity in the caucus, but also around the government's top table, although some within Labor wonder why it took until nearly the end of the term.
The old boys' club
Despite the changes since the election, greybeards within the party say Labor's factions aren't what they used to be. The loss of the socialist left to the Greens means the Left is much more moderate than it once was.
But when asked to name senior figures within the factions, the names of men are quick to fall from lips.
It goes some way to explaining how Tim Ayres, a competent and capable senator from NSW, a senior leader in the Left who is close to Albanese suddenly finds himself in cabinet, while longer-serving and fellow Left women such as Ged Kearney (a nurse-turned-president of the ACTU) and NSW senator Jenny McAllister find themselves stuck in the outer ministry.
Kate Thwaites, who had been an assistant minister, lost her job, instead relegated to an envoy role.
All three women either have no union base or are from unaffiliated unions.
Undoubtedly, the biggest winner in the reshuffle is Marles's pick to elevate Sam Rae to the ministry. Labor MPs say his only claim to promotion is being the deputy prime minister's ally.
"What we are seeing now is a whole new change," a long-serving Labor MP said. "There is still a lot of power with the factions and unions, who still exert control. But parliament is changing. There are many more women, there are many more intelligent people who have worked hard for their seats. It means there is pressure on the machine for change."
Besides the lack of women getting promoted under Albanese, the dumping of Ed Husic, who lost his seat in cabinet along with Mark Dreyfus, has left a bitter taste in mouths when celebration would have otherwise been in order.
Ed Husic ( ABC News: Dan Sciasi )
Dreyfus, a King's Counsel, considered retiring before the last election but pressed on, assuming he would remain the attorney-general. He was left blindsided by his dumping. Husic always faced a tougher challenge to keep his and, like Dreyfus, lost his spot when Marles flexed his factional might.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers confessed it had been "unfortunate" and "messy", Western Sydney MP Mike Freelander told the AFR it was "disgraceful".
Former PM Paul Keating issued a scathing statement about the demotion of the cabinet's sole Muslim member and its "most effective and significant" Jewish member.
"It could have been handled in a kinder way," a Labor MP told the ABC. "There is a lot of anger that will last for a long time."
Husic publicly laid the blame for his demotion at the feet of Marles.
"I think people, when they look at a deputy prime minister, they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin," he said.
"The difficult issue here is that we've had bare-faced ambition and a deputy prime minister wield a factional club to reshape the ministry."
A man from the NSW Right faction, to which Husic belongs, was always going to lose his seat given it was over-represented in cabinet.
The four men all represent Western Sydney electorates. Tony Burke, Chris Bowen and Jason Clare all saw swings against them at the election, whereas Husic gained voters in a region where Labor faced backlash for its response to the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Speaking after his dumping, Husic said speaking out on the conflict had cost him his spot.
His dumping also brought back memories of senator Fatima Payman being forced out of the party after she broke ranks to vote in support of Palestinian statehood.
Fatima Payman quit the Labor Party last year. ( AAP: Mick Tsikas )
A party that champions diversity, be it gender or cultural background, now finds itself being accused by its own of expecting diversity to be shown, not heard.
The now-cabinet minister Anne Aly offered a similar sentiment back in 2019 when party figures forced through Kristina Keneally's pre-selection into Fowler, an action that moved aside preferred local pick Tu Le. Albanese now admits it was a mistake for Labor to have run Keneally in the seat.
Tu Le ran as Labor's candidate in 2025 but was not able to reclaim the ground the party lost to independent Dai Le, who retained the seat.
It's worth pausing to remember the decision outgoing Fowler MP Chris Hayes made. An older, white man from the Right faction, he did everything that affirmative action calls for. He found a local woman, a rare woman of the Right, who had a background that reflected her community. He championed her cause and yet instead the Labor Party machine had other ideas.
"Diversity and equality and multiculturalism can't just be a trope that Labor pulls out and parades while wearing a sari and eating some kung pao chicken to make ourselves look good," Aly told the ABC in 2019.
"This is a huge failure for Labor when it comes to diversity and inclusion."
Albanese's opportunity
Even the harshest internal critics of Labor's factions and the decisions that have played out since the May 3 election, insist they are excited and optimistic about what is before them.
The prime minister, however, has been keen to play down any suggestion this could be a moment for big reform.
Since his victory, he's repeatedly pointed out that voters have given him a mandate to deliver what Labor promised, such as cheaper medicines, a modest tax cut and an expansion of Medicare urgent care clinics.
While some have derided his cautious approach to reform, others say the slow approach is the strategy that has delivered the kind of parliament voters have just elected.
Those the ABC spoke with for this piece, including Labor figures in and outside the parliament, across states, genders and factions, pin their hopes on the treasurer as someone who could drive reforms this term.
They look to a crossbench filled with teal independents as serious people up for an adult conversation about tax reform.
"We have a great treasurer willing to do some important things and we do need to talk about tax," a Labor MP said. "We have to reduce our reliance on personal income tax. We need to create a fairer system for young people. We need to be bold on housing."
Albanese insists his door is open to any politician, irrespective of stripe, to come and offer an idea.
Anthony Albanese has rare air to reform this term. ( ABC News: Brendan Esposito )
He has the chance to remake Australia to embrace the modernity that he's eager to reflect.
On a personal front, he finds himself on the cusp of something few leaders ever get — choosing when he'll leave the top job.
That day isn't any time soon, with Albanese already thinking about a third term.
During the campaign he was asked who would be Australia's second female prime minister.
"Chances are, it'll be a Labor MP given our gender balance and that we're majority female," he replied.
Sitting behind Albanese will be no shortage of capable women who could one day lead his party.
Be it Plibersek, now the parliament's longest-serving woman in the House, or a new generation of figures such as O'Neil and Wells.
When Gillard lost the nation's top job in 2013, she confessed she'd been bemused to read her colleagues say she had faced more pressure as a result of her gender and yet then insist it had "zero effect" on the position of her party.
"The reaction to being the first female PM does not explain everything about my prime ministership, nor does it explain nothing about my prime ministership," Gillard said in her final press conference as prime minister.
"What I am absolutely confident of is it will be easier for the next woman, and the woman after that, and the woman after that, and I'm proud of that," she later added with tears in her eyes.
A woman will again one day lead Labor. Whoever she is, to get there she'll face no small task overcoming the party's old boys' club.
Credits
Words: Brett Worthington
Photographs: Brendan Esposito, Matt Roberts