Women’s network founder Charlotte Mortlock resigns amid gender quota dispute and Sussan Ley’s removal
Updated ,first published
The founder of a key Liberal women’s network has resigned from the organization and left the party entirely, two days after federal MPs ousted Sussan Ley as the first female leader.
The announcement by Charlotte Mortlock, who founded Hilma’s Network four years ago to increase women’s representation in the Liberals, comes a week after the party’s NSW branch canceled a planned vote on gender quotas. Mortlock had worked on the proposal with five other Liberal women.
“Due to recent events I decided there were other ways I could support women and Australia,” the former Coalition staffer and Sky correspondent said in a statement on Sunday morning.
“I have decided that it is time to step down as managing director of Hilma’s Network and I have also renounced my membership in the Liberal Party.”
The resignation of one of the Liberals’ most vocal grassroots advocates for women’s representation is a sign of the fallout that awaits the party among sections of its membership after Ley, the first female federal leader, was ousted within nine months.
New Liberal deputy leader Jane Hume said Mortlock was a great voice for women with Liberal values. “I think this is a really sad moment,” he said.
“I think there is a real opportunity for women’s voices in the Liberal Party and it is up to us to show Australian women that the Liberal Party is the place for them and that we represent their hopes, dreams and aspirations.
“That will certainly be my goal in the coming weeks, months and years, and we will certainly carry that into the next election.”
Independent MP Allegra Spending said Mortlock “has the courage and clear thinking to understand what is required to truly transform the Liberal party into a party that represents modern Australian women”.
“I really admired the work he did, but once again the party didn’t listen,” Spending said. “People often ask me why I’m not a member of the Liberal party. That’s at least part of the answer.”
Ley’s tenure was marred by disagreement. The sight of high-profile right-wing MPs arriving at a Melbourne house to discuss Ley’s leadership before the funeral of former Liberal MP Katie Allen was a sign that the opposition leader was being weakened within their own ranks.
The six included leadership candidates Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor, as well as senators Jonno Duniam and James Paterson, members of Ley’s leadership team.
This came to a head last week when Taylor challenged for the Liberal leadership and won the vote convincingly 34 to 17 on Friday.
Most Liberal MPs insist their decision is about Ley’s performance, given that the Coalition is falling to new lows in the polls every month. But Ley’s supporters say she was never treated fairly by her colleagues, and some think gender played a role.
The Liberals have struggled to win women’s votes in the last two elections, and the gender imbalance among MPs has remained virtually unchanged over the past decade.
The party has a target of 50 percent female representation, but only a third of its MPs are women. There are six women in the lower house (this number will drop to five when Ley leaves parliament) and 22 men. There are 11 Liberal women and 12 Liberal men in the upper house.
Mortlock said state and federal gender quotas should be a “minimum” to improve both representation and policy proposals for women.
Quotas require a proportion of seats to be held by women and help women become the majority of Labour’s caucus. However, the Liberal Party’s aversion to identity politics and belief in individual merit made quotas a contentious issue for the party.
in Ley first major speech as leader She said in June that she was open to but not committed to gender quotas, adding that “what’s not good is not having enough women.”
Taylor quickly dismissed the possibility of quotas, claiming Labor was “subverting democracy” with its processes. He argued that mentoring and recruitment support were better options.
The federal review of the Liberal Party’s 2025 election loss has not yet been published, but this imprint reported last November that the document would not recommend a strict quota system.
Mortlock said at the time that the decision was for state departments, not federal leadership.
But the NSW Liberals this month did not vote on a proposal to put quotas on their agenda for next month’s state council meeting.
Six Liberal women in NSW, including Mortlock, had drafted a plan to increase female representation at the federal level by setting a 40 per cent target for female MPs and ensuring half of the candidates in pre-selection contests are women.
According to reports on the plan, 40 per cent of seats in NSW will be reserved for female candidates and there will be a women-only primary to prevent female candidates being pushed into unwinnable seats. Australian.
It was removed from the state council’s March meeting agenda over concerns it could trigger a protracted debate over gender representation ahead of next year’s state elections.
In his statement on Sunday, Mortlock said he was proud of everything the network had achieved since he founded the grassroots group following Scott Morrison’s 2022 federal election defeat.
“From our inception, we quickly grew to multiple states hosting events that challenged the party to evolve,” he said. “I wish Hilma and the Liberal Party every success in the future.”
“We offer our deepest appreciation to Charlotte for having the passion and vision to build Hilma’s network, and we thank her for her commitment, energy and courage in supporting women in politics,” the network’s board of directors said in a statement.
Erin Watson, Hilma’s Victoria representative, will take over as CEO. The statement said Watson will help support Victorian Liberal leader Jess Wilson’s campaign ahead of the state election.
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Natassia Chrysanthos is a Federal Political Correspondent. He has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
