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Angus Taylor has hosed down a proposal for the Liberal party to consider introducing gender quotas, while one of his senior shadow cabinet ministers has implored the party to act on such ideas with “urgency”.
After a discussion paper that canvassed the idea was circulated to supporters on Wednesday, the party’s leader said he has never been supportive of quotas – shortly before his deputy, Jane Hume, intervened to say all options would be considered.
The paper, from the internal Liberal Party Commission group that’s led by the Queensland senator James McGrath, put forward options to refresh the ageing membership base, engage with women, multicultural communities and young people, and improve internal structures and campaigning.
“I’ve never supported any quotas at all, but what I do support, what I do support is more great people joining the Liberal party and more great people, women and from all sorts of backgrounds,” Taylor said on Thursday.
But Hume quickly intervened, leaving the door ajar.
“This is a draft report. It’s up for discussion right now, and we’ll consider all of the options that are put out there,” Hume said.
Shadow cabinet minister Anne Ruston went further on Thursday, calling for the party to act with “urgency”.
“Every review is only as good as what gets implemented afterwards … we’re at a critical juncture so listening isn’t enough,” Ruston told Guardian Australia.
“We need to act on what we’re hearing, with urgency.”
She had told Sky News on Wednesday the status quo for the party was not working.
“All the things that have been proposed, with the exception of quotas, have not worked, because you’ve only got to look at the number of females … we have in the House of Representatives,” she said.
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“If you’re going to have a discussion paper like this being put out, you can’t start off on day one ruling things in and ruling things out, everything should be on the table.”
Others in the party have downplayed the significance of McGrath’s review, which had been commissioned by the former Liberal leader Sussan Ley. Former MPs Nick Minchin and Pru Goward penned a post-election review that was widely leaked before being tabled by the Labor government in March.
Several Liberals questioned the need for another review, calling it “ridiculous” and downplaying the impact it would have on party policy.
One MP said politics had moved on since the ۲۰۲۵ election, making the work “irrelevant”, while another Liberal said the review would go nowhere and make the same recommendations as previous bodies of work.
Former Liberal MP Jason Falinski, who lost his Sydney northern beaches seat in ۲۰۲۲, said the review should include ideas on winning young men back.
“The Republicans, particularly Ron DeSantis, has shown that there is a lot of votes to be yielded amongst younger men by standing up for the proposition that merit and competency selections are the fairest and most progressive. It was a message that young women also voted for.”
