NSW Treasurer Matt Kean says it’s “disgraceful” an ambitious senior female Liberal staffer was discouraged from pursuing a career as an MP and told she should focus on having children.
Tanya Raffoul says she was discouraged by her colleagues from running for preselection in the March election in the seat of Parramatta and criticised for being assertive, according to The Daily Telegraph.
“I have been told that it’s best for me to go and settle down and have children and then think about a political career as I won’t have time to do that in parliament,” Ms Raffoul told the newspaper.
Mr Kean said the comments were “absolutely disgraceful”.
“They should have no place in the Liberal Party or any other organisation for that matter, and so they should be repudiated in the strongest possible terms,” he told reporters on Monday.
Ms Raffoul, who is Transport Minister David Elliott’s chief of staff, reportedly said she was chided by colleagues for being opinionated.
An unnamed senior Liberal minister is quoted as saying assertive women are discriminated against within the party.
Two of the party’s most senior female MPs, Metropolitan Roads Minister Natalie Ward and Disability Services Minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones recently failed to win preselection for lower house seats.
Ms Maclaren-Jones withdrew from the preselection race for Pittwater after taking the numbers on competitor Rory Amon.
Ms Ward lost her battle for Davidson to former Liberal staffer and health executive Matt Cross in a result Mr Kean said he was “devastated” about.
Over the weekend, Mr Elliott also criticised the party’s preselection process in a LinkedIn post, saying: “we’ve seen high calibre ladies thrown under the bus” in the seats of Davidson, Pittwater, Camden and Riverstone.
“Each time against blokes who would struggle to inspire to get me out of bed in the morning,” Mr Elliott wrote.
“Matt Kean and I finally find ourselves on a unity ticket. At some stage we have to work out how to stop putting testosterone before talent.”
Labor leader in the Upper House Penny Sharpe said Premier Dominic Perrottet needed to reflect on his commitment to bring more women into the parliament.
“It’s 2022 – our parliament should not look like an episode of Mad Men,” Ms Sharpe said.
“They should look like the modern society that we are, where women are taking an equal place and an equal part in the decision making.”
Ms Sharpe also criticised recent comments from Mr Elliott and Mr Kean about wanting to boost female numbers within their party as “ridiculous”, adding the party seemed “incapable” of delivering on it.
“It’s actually their party, and it’s their problem to fix.”
Mr Perrottet said on the weekend he would be open to US-style primaries during preselections, allowing non-financial members of the NSW Liberal Party to vote for candidates.
The number of preselectors at a state seat varies between electorates and is dependent on the area, but can be as low as two dozen.
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