There is growing momentum behind renewed calls for quotas to get more women into politics, as concerns about federal parliament’s workplace culture continue to grow.
Female Liberal Party politicians have thrown their support behind the idea after Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was open to it.
The calls appear to mark a shift from the party’s long-held resistance to quotas to increase female representation - a move already adopted by Labor.
Mr Morrison on Tuesday said the Liberal Party's resistance to adopting quotas was not getting "the results" desired to increase the representation of women.
“We tried it the other way and it isn’t getting us the result we would like to see, so I would like to see us do better on that front,” he said.
Liberal MP Katie Allen said on Wednesday she had never been a supporter of gender quotas in the past but believed the time had come for a rethink.
“There needs to be a conversation about that,” she told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s not up to me - it’s up to the party - but we need more women in the decision-making tent.”
Environment Minister Susan Ley has suggested a 40 per cent quota target could be an option to pursue.
"We have done well through the normal representative process and we must continue to improve, no doubt," she told Nine on Wednesday.
Superannuation Minister Jane Hume says she supports quotas, but believes they alone would not remove the need for underlying cultural change.
“Quotas are a great way of changing numbers in parliament and they are a great way of changing numbers in business,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
“But are they a great way of changing culture? That’s what really where the question lies - how do we make that giant cultural shift? That’s up to not just the Prime Minister, that’s up to all of us.”
On Tuesday, Industry Minister Karen Andrews threw her support behind considering adopting quotas, saying she has had a “gutful” of the disrespect and poor treatment of women both inside and outside of politics.
Minister for Women Marise Payne also weighed in on Tuesday, calling for the government to take a “good, hard look” at introducing focused initiatives such as quotas to boost female representation.
Since Labor introduced quotas for women, almost half of the party’s members are female compared to around a quarter of the coalition’s.
Foreign Minister and Minister for Women Marise Payne. Source: AAP
Labor initially set a 30 per cent target for women MPs in 1994. It was later raised to 40 per cent and a target of 50 per cent within a decade was put in place in 2015.
The renewed attention on quotas comes after former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins went public alleging she was treated as a “political problem” by the government in the aftermath of an alleged rape inside Parliament House.
inside the building have also compounded concerns.
An inquiry by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins is underway into the workplace culture within Parliament House.
Independent MP Helen Haines said on Wednesday the Australian parliament was “woefully” behind the rest of the world in terms of representation of women.
“Right across the whole parliament, we are still woefully behind the rest of the world when it comes to getting women into power - and into places where they can make decisions,” she told reporters.
But her crossbench colleague Zali Steggall said the impact of quotas would be limited without overall change to the empowerment of women in politics.
“Let's be real, it doesn't matter having women in this place if you don't empower them, and if you don't get give them the freedom to express their voice,” she told reporters.
