A senior Liberal figure is getting dragged for making out of touch remarks to the party’s NSW women’s council this week, where he suggested women were “sufficiently assertive” and the party may have to “protect men’s involvement”.
Former Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale, a member of a three-person federal panel appointed to run the NSW Liberal Party, made the comment on a Zoom call on Tuesday night during a discussion about female representation and gender quotas.
“I think women are sufficiently assertive now that we should be giving some thought to whether we need to protect men’s involvement,” Stockdale told the meeting of at least 50 women.
It has since drawn flak from numerous members of the party, who have publicly dismissed the remarks. On Thursday, Opposition leader Sussan Ley — the first female leader of the Liberal party — issued a statement rejecting Stockdale’s comments.
“There is nothing wrong with being an assertive woman, in fact I encourage assertive women to join the Liberal Party,” she said, per the Sydney Morning Herald.
“The Liberal Party must reflect, respect and represent modern Australia and that means recognising the strength, merit and leadership of the women in our ranks.”
Deputy Liberal Leader Ted O’Brien further hit back as he highlighted the need for “more women engaging with our party”.
“I’m proud to have Sussan Ley as our leadership. In a leadership team with Michaelia Cash and Anne Ruston, and so for the women of Australia, the Liberal Party is your party, that’s my message,” he told the ABC.
Stockdale has since issued an apology, insisting the comment was a joke as he expressed regret over the fact “people felt disrespected”, as reported by the Australian Financial Review.
“Following a discussion of quotas, I made a light-hearted but poorly chosen remark,” he said in a statement.
“I certainly intended no disrespect to anyone and I regret that people felt disrespected.”
However, NSW Upper House MP and former president of the NSW Liberal Women’s Council Jacqui Munro remarked it was unhelpful and “pretty disappointing” if he was in fact trying to be funny.
“It’s pretty disappointing and not very funny, if he was trying to make a joke,” she said, per ABC News.
“This idea that it’s a joke or in poor taste is just unbelievable at a time like this, we need leaders in the party that are focused on actually delivering for the people we want to support and that is, particularly, women.
“That’s what we’ve got to be focused on, not making poor taste jokes about how women are too assertive — it’s just bizarre.”
Through the campaign, the Liberal Party struggled with the impression of being out of touch with women, including former Opposition leader Peter Dutton asking “forgiveness” from female voters over the now-abandoned policy to ban public servants working from home.
The party also dumped NSW candidate Benjamin Britton who claimed women shouldn’t serve in combat in the military, and sacked a campaign manager over a series of sexist and other offensive social media comments.
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie joined the chorus of critics on Thursday morning, telling Today Stockdale’s comments were “shocking”.
“I think it’s time for Alan to head back to the Melbourne club, have a stiff whisky, and chat with the old boys about what went wrong,” she said, noting 45 per cent of the Liberal MPs in NSW were women.
“I think we need more assertive women because we have to fight for the future of our country and our communities. That’s why you send us to places like Canberra.”
Also appearing on the program, former Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk described the comments as going one step forward and three steps back for the party, which suffered one of its worst defeats in history at the May 3 election.
“These are not appropriate in this day and age. Honestly, the Liberal Party needs a good, hard look at themselves and especially the men,” she said.
“I mean, there are good women coming through all different political parties, and this guy is out of touch – and there’s no room for this in today’s modern society.”
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