WA Liberal Party women have called on the state party to put strong female candidates in winnable seats and reflect modern society or condemn themselves to long-term opposition after successive electoral trouncings reduced it to a rump at both the state and federal level.
Key points:
- Liberal Party members say the party needs to change
- But they are divided on whether to adopt quotas
- Many blame the preselection process for its 'bloke' problem
Some former female MPs want the party to go further and finally adopt quotas for women in parliament, arguing it has become completely mainstream.
"There's not a mining company on the terrace that doesn't have a policy on diversity targets," one former senior female Liberal MP said.
"Over the last 10 years, we've just had zero appeal to women."
After the 2021 state election left the Liberals with just two lower house seats, the party lost five seats at the federal election on Saturday, leaving them with just one seat in metropolitan Perth.
Four of those outgoing MPs were men and all were replaced by women, three from the ALP.
Kate Chaney, who won the safe Liberal seat of Curtin, stood as an independent after deciding the Liberal Party, in which her uncle and grandfather were federal ministers, did not reflect her values.
The election disaster prompted senior WA Liberal and former Morrison cabinet minister Ken Wyatt, who lost the seat of Hasluck, to appeal to his party members for some serious soul searching and to stop being so "bloke centric".
Voters had told him they did not like the Liberals' "mindset" on women, and climate change, and they needed to have more women in politics.
Change needed — but no quotas
Former state upper house Liberal MP and shadow minister Alyssa Hayden said she was able to work within the male-dominated party, but it needed to change.
"There are times obviously when there's decisions to be made, I do think if it was between a man and a woman, it would lean towards the male side," she said.
"Yes, we can improve on that. And if we think we can't then we're going to be stuck in opposition for a very long time.
"Our whole party at the moment is not resonating with women, is not resonating with the community.
"The community's evolved and changed. We've become more modern and our party needs to become also more modern.
"We need to stick to our core values, and we need to actually reflect what the community want.
"If we don't do that, we're not going to get women wanting to be part of the party and wanting to put their hand up. If we don't reflect what they want and need, how do we get them on board?"
Ms Hayden said she did not support quotas, saying there were already a lot of women in the broader Liberal Party, but they had to be encouraged and supported to run in winnable seats.
"There's not a lot of support, even with women amongst the Liberal party supporting each other," she said.
"We need to start supporting the strong women that we actually have, who already belong to the Liberal party, so they know they have every chance of winning that seat."
The ALP first adopted quotas in 1994, and last year's state election saw a record 43 women elected to the WA Parliament, 39 of them from Labor.
By way of comparison, just 25 Liberal women have ever sat in the WA Parliament.
Factions a bigger problem: Morton
Helen Morton, who was the disability services and mental health minister in the Barnett government and served in parliament for 12 years, agreed.
"I think it's having the right women that is very important," she said.
"In the time that I was in parliament, I certainly came across women that were more bullying than men in the parliament."
For Ms Morton, the central and most corrosive problem was the influence of the factions, and in particular a conservative group of MPs known as "The Clan", that was most debilitating to the Liberal Party.
She said she believed their "stranglehold" on the party and preselection of candidates had brought it down.
That was reflected in a review of the party after the state election loss by barrister Mark Trowell which recommended major reforms to free the party from the grip of The Clan.
Following the federal election result, Mr Trowell has expressed despair that not a single one of his recommendations had been enacted and nothing had changed.
Dutton 'proves Liberals not listening'
Deputy Liberal leader Libby Mettam, one of only two female Liberal MPs in state parliament — along with Upper House member Donna Farragher — said the review had been put on hold during the federal election.
The party is promising a more grassroots preselection process, giving members a stronger say.
Ms Mettam said the party would look at how to increase female representation.
"Part of that is ensuring that we are seeing women preselected into those more winnable seats as well," she said.
Liberal leader David Honey said he was working with Liberal Party president Richard Wilson to put in place constitutional and preselection changes.
"The party is undertaking these major reforms so that we choose the best candidates that truly represent their local communities and to present more Liberal women in winnable seats," he said.
"The party must undertake this rebuild in order to more widely appeal to all Western Australians. That is what I am doing as WA Liberal leader."
But one former state female MP said Ms Mettam should be made Liberal leader instead of Dr Honey.
"From a state perspective, that they're allowing David Honey to remain leader when you've got someone like Libby Mettam — sure it's a party of two, but … Honey does not resonate with women anywhere," she said.
Another former MP was "mortified" at the prospect of Peter Dutton becoming the federal leader.
"They are not listening. The message was loud and clear from the community. Women have left us in droves," she said.