Sussan Ley leads quota charge as Libs debate ‘women problem’
LIBERALS ARGUE OVER GENDER QUOTAS
Fresh from her address at the National Press Club earlier this week, Liberal leader Sussan Ley is set to outline her new plan for generating policies at a joint Coalition partyroom in Canberra today as her party resorts to old habits in arguing over gender quotas.
Guardian Australia reports details of Ley’s policy plan were circulated among opposition MPs last night following a meeting of the shadow ministry. Explaining the new approach, the site says Ley will ask her MPs to endorse a policy development process “designed to empower backbenchers and include more diverse voices”. The report states the move is part of an attempt to prevent the political overreach many complained about during Peter Dutton’s time in charge.
The plans echo her pledge at the National Press Club on Wednesday that, going forward, the Coalition’s policy development process will be “iterative and continuous”, Guardian Australia recalls. Ley also claimed the opposition’s policies “will evolve … in response to internal and external feedback, emerging issues, and ongoing engagement with the community”.
Now, some may well counter with a brisk “sure, good luck with that”, given the Coalition’s current infighting and divergence on numerous issues. One of those areas, Ley’s declaration this week that she will be a “zealot” in recruiting more women to the Liberal Party, has already resulted in numerous headlines as members of her party give their opinion on using gender quotas.
Appearing on Sky News yesterday, former party leadership contender, former shadow treasurer and now shadow minister of defence Angus Taylor said he was “not a supporter” of gender quotas. The day before, his party leader had declared: “If some state divisions choose to implement quotas, that is fine. If others don’t, that is also fine. But what is not fine is not having enough women.”
Talking to Sky News host Kieran Gilbert, Taylor said: “I’m not a supporter of quotas. As Sussan said, this is going to be a matter for state divisions. It’s not something that I think is necessary in order to get the outcome. I think attracting, mentoring, retaining great people and great women in the party is incredibly important work for absolutely everybody, for all leaders, and I take that very seriously, and I’ll continue to.”
The Australian reports outgoing Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds has said the Liberal Party faces extinction because of its women problem and called for quotas to be considered.
The paper quotes the Coalition’s federal election gender review, authored by Reynolds, in saying “in absolute numbers, there are now fewer Liberal women than in the 47th Parliament, the lowest number since 1993. In the 2025 federal election, voters have again sent a clear message … a message of electoral irrelevancy which the party received, but failed to act upon, after the 2022 election.”
Writing in the broadsheet, Reynolds added: “Last year, the Liberal Party celebrated its 80th anniversary. The chances of us marking a 90th anniversary are slim if party divisions do not embrace the gender values the Liberal Party was founded on. Australian voters have been repeatedly telling the party that it is rapidly becoming electorally irrelevant.
“Liberal Party members must find a way to rapidly move beyond the pathological aversion to even discussing gender imbalance, never mind addressing it.”
The Australian Financial Review quotes Charlotte Mortlock, who founded the party’s grassroots organisation Hilma’s Network, criticising former Liberal PM Tony Abbott after he appeared on the ABC this week to claim “I am very much opposed to quotas” and added: “I think they are fundamentally … contrary to the merit and what should be at the heart of our Liberal conservative philosophy.”
In response, Mortlock declared: “If he refuses quotas and won’t support women organically, what are the options? All of us are not jack of all trades when it comes to areas of expertise, and Mr Abbott is not with women. Historically, his instincts have been incorrect in this area, and as such, his opinions in this field should not be the loudest.”
Ley’s predecessor obviously failed to address the issue following the 2022 election and instead focused on topics like culture wars and threatening public servant cuts. One assumes, then, that Mr Dutton, wherever he may be, won’t enjoy reading the report in the Nine papers that states the country now has almost 1 million bureaucrats.
The report highlights stats released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday, “revealed there were a record 990,000 people directly employed during May in public administration and safety, a jump of almost 50,000 over the past year”. The piece says the majority of the growth has come from an increase in those employed in government administration.
Elsewhere in domestic news, the AFR claims the Defence Department has cut project maintenance and training budgets by 10% in an attempt to save funds for AUKUS submarines and missiles.
“Multiple defence industry sources, granted anonymity to discuss commercially sensitive matters, warned the squeeze was affecting the Australian Defence Force’s ability to keep its personnel and weapons platforms such as warships and aircraft in peak condition for a potential conflict,” the paper writes.
And leading the AFR’s site overnight was its report on Assistant Minister for Productivity Andrew Leigh calling for light-touch regulation when it comes to AI.
HEGSETH ATTACKS MEDIA OVER IRAN
In news you won’t be surprised to read, the Trump administration is still arguing about the damage caused by the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities at the weekend.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Dan Caine, have held another press conference at the Pentagon, where the former continued the administration’s attacks on the media for reporting on the initial intel on the damage, written by… the Pentagon.
Hegseth called the US strikes “historically successful” and claimed they had “destroyed” Iran’s nuclear capabilities, the BBC reports.
He also claimed the media had an “agenda” to make the strikes seem less successful than they were and accused some US outlets of “irresponsible reporting”. The ABC quotes him as saying: “Specifically, you the press corps, because you cheer against Trump so hard, it’s in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump, because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes.”
Hegseth, who used to be a presenter on Fox News, also notably clashed with Fox reporter Jennifer Griffin, saying: “Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has delivered his first public address since the ceasefire with Israel was accepted, claiming the US strikes didn’t “accomplish anything significant” to disrupt the country’s nuclear program, the BBC reports.
“They couldn’t accomplish anything and did not achieve their objective,” he said. On Iran’s retaliatory attack on a US air base in Qatar, Khamenei added: “This incident is also repeatable in the future, and should any attack take place, the cost for the enemy and the aggressor will undoubtedly be very high.”
The ABC highlights he also declared “victory” over Israel and claimed his country had “delivered a hard slap to America’s face”.
As the Trump administration continues to claim it set back Iran’s nuclear program by decades and Iran claims it achieved nothing, the BBC flags the UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi conceded this week that there was a chance Tehran had moved its highly enriched uranium prior to the heavily-debated strikes.
Meanwhile, The Financial Times reports preliminary intelligence assessments provided to governments in Europe “indicate that Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact” following the American attack.
Officials are cited as saying the intelligence suggested that Iran’s stockpile was not actually at Fordow — one of the main targets of the US strikes — last weekend.
Finally, the ABC and Guardian Australia have covered the calls on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to do more to help evacuate Australians stuck in Iran. The former says some 3,000 Australians and their family members are still waiting for help to leave, a week after Australia’s diplomatic staff pulled out of the country.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
Bears have been in the news a fair bit this week. On Wednesday we brought you the story of two bears escaping from their enclosure in Devon, England, and eating a week’s worth of honey.
Today, it’s a bear in Japan causing chaos.
The Guardian reports a black bear caused flights to be cancelled at Yamagata airport on Thursday after making its way onto the runway.
CBS News says at least 16 flights were cancelled after airport staff closed the runway. Yamagata Airport official Akira Nagai told AFP: “Given the situation there is no way we can host plane arrivals now.” The bear is believed to be still at large somewhere at the airport.
Footage from the scene shows the bear being chased around the runway by airport staff.
Say What?
A wonderful day with incredible and caring leaders.
Donald Trump
It turns out all you need to do to get the US president back on board with the idea of NATO is to up your defence spending to 5% of GDP and shamelessly fawn over him for months.
CRIKEY RECAP
America has a totally normal one over NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani
A democratic socialist and practising Muslim, born in Uganda to Indian-Ugandan parents, appears to have just unexpectedly prevailed in the Democratic primary, thus becoming the party’s candidate for mayor of New York in an election on November 4.
On his way to the nomination, Zohran Mamdani criticised Israel’s conduct in Gaza, argued for higher taxes on corporations and the super-rich, for expanding and protecting gender-affirming care, for making NYC an LGBTQIA+ sanctuary, and for raising the city’s minimum wage.
So as you can imagine, everyone is behaving extremely normally about the whole thing.
Schwartz dumps book podcast alongside 7am — dealing a blow to the literary world
Sophie Cunningham, chair of the Australian Society of Authors, told Crikey that the potential death of Read This was “genuinely really sad”.
“In general, it is harder and harder to get Australian literature talked about and written about. It’s becoming increasingly something that’s seen as specialist in some way, whereas it used to be generalised in the way that talking about television or movies might be.”
Liberals get hacked, Gina strikes while the iron’s hot, and where’s thy Guardian angel?
Billionaire mining magnate and Hancock Prospecting chair Gina Rinehart has (again) lashed the concept of net zero as “unobtainable and expensive”, saying it will “negatively impact our way of life for generations to come”.
“Why not let those who want to reduce their emissions do so, and who want net-zero efforts, be the ones who pay for them? While Australia instead follows the lead of USA and other countries who put their citizens first,” Rinehart said.
Entirely uncoincidentally, Gina’s comments follow Hancock Prospecting’s joint approval alongside Rio Tinto for a $2.5 billion Pilbara iron ore expansion, dubbed Hope Downs 2.
Net zero does indeed look somewhat unachievable if one continues to open giant iron mines.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
‘Shameful bigot’: Premier’s spray after Mark Latham stunt (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Court rejects ‘half-baked’ legal challenge to Pesutto payment (The Age)
Melbourne’s Savage Club to allow ‘lady guest’ diners as cost of living strikes men-only haven (Guardian Australia)
US intelligence says Iran’s nuclear program may be intact. Here’s how it could still build a bomb (The Telegraph)
Ukrainian forces halt Russian advance in Sumy region, says army chief (BBC)
If everyone had voted, Kamala Harris still would have lost (The New York Times) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Jim Chalmers juggles expectations and ambition in pursuing tax reform — Michelle Grattan (The Conversation): If Chalmers stays serious about the tax push, it is going to take many months of intense work. It can’t be rushed, but nor can it be delayed. If it ran for much over a year it would likely find the government’s political capital had been eroded. The size of its capital store can appear deceptive because so much of it is thanks to Peter Dutton and Donald Trump.
In 2022, the Liberals boycotted Labor’s jobs and skills summit (although Nationals leader David Littleproud attended). This time, shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien has accepted Chalmers’ invitation and will participate in the roundtable.
It will be a tricky gig for O’Brien, new to this shadow portfolio. He has to avoid being too negative, but nor can he endorse things the opposition might later reject. The Coalition will not have a tax policy against which to judge what’s said.
Talk of tax is starting to consume Jim Chalmers’ reform summit — Phillip Coorey (AFR): Going into the August roundtable, it is important to remember that productivity is about a lot more than tax reform, and tax reform is about more than soaking what is left of the rich.
Albanese speaks a lot about delivering on promises to engender support for more ambitious changes, such as what the government is potentially about to embark on.
That doctrine does not apply to those who don’t vote Labor. Two key broken promises last term, the increased tax on $3 million plus super accounts and the reworking of the stage three tax cuts, regardless of their merits or otherwise, were possible politically because of who was affected.
