Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's another day and another Liberal preselection where the bloke has toppled the woman. Another day where the Liberals, instead of backing an experienced, well respected woman, have backed in a mediocre ultraconservative bloke. Of course, as South Australian women know, the Liberal party has been on this path for quite some time. Clearly, the Liberal Party has a women's problem or, should I say, the Liberal Party has a problem with women. Time and time again, the Liberal Party misses the mark when it comes to preselecting and backing in strong capable women and has done it again. Of course, it is not just in South Australia; it's around the rest of the country.

It seems that the Liberal Party is now controlled by an ultraconservative rump that relegates women to the bottom of the ladder. Mr Dutton, the leader of this great faction, is leading a party of the 1950s, where women are seen but not heard and certainly not preselected, where women are not given the opportunity to represent their constituents or the opportunity to show that modern Australia needs women at the helm. You get better decisions, you get more inclusiveness, you get less blokes fighting blokes and you get women actually getting the job done. This Saturday, in South Australia, in the Dunston by-election, back a party that backs women, because we certainly know the Liberal Party isn't doing that.