MEDIA STATEMENT

13 February 2026

Only gender insiders allowed for the top job.

Time to call last drinks on the Liberal Party’s boys club

Sussan Ley is the first woman leader of the Liberal Party, having only held the role since May 2025. As Liberal leader she is also the leader of the coalition of parties which make up the Parliamentary Opposition.

Her defeat is yet another symptom of the Coalition’s stubborn resistance to adopt practical measures to advance women into parliament, so that they gain ‘critical mass’ and support a range of candidates for senior leadership in Government and Opposition.

The Liberals are the lead party in the Coalition.  At their best Liberals such as Sussan Ley have aimed to represent a truly liberal, pluralist, modern and gender equal Australia. But the Party refuses to adopt and adapt ‘quota-based’ approaches to candidate selection so successfully used by Labor- and long advocated by WEL. Reliance on individual ‘merit’ as the sole criterion for representation and leadership has failed Liberal women.

As of mid-2025, women make up approximately 33% of Liberal National representatives in the Federal Parliament.

There are only 6 women out of a total of 18 Liberal MPs in the House of Representatives and the Liberal Party has not seen a significant increase in women in the House over the last decade. At least the Liberal party fares better in the Senate: women comprise 10 of the party’s 21 Senators, with no discernible dilution of merit.

WEL sees a glimmer of hope in the election of moderate Liberal feminist Jane Hume as deputy.

Kay Anastassiadis WEL’s National Convenor comments on the outcome of the spill:

‘After years at the top table, it’s not enough for the new Liberal leader to say on repeat ‘we need more women’ — leadership means delivering outcomes, not just opposing the tools that might achieve them.’

‘Women make up just over half of the Australian population (50.7%, ABS 2021). We expect to see ourselves, in all our diversity, reflected in the numbers of our elected representatives and the make-up of the leadership.’

 It’s time the ‘boys’ own party within the Liberal Party came to an end.

Media Contact:
Kay Anastassiadis
Convenor, National Coordinating Committee Women’s Electoral Lobby
E: [email protected]