The departure of a rapist MP will bring Australia's oldest parliament closer to gender parity at an upcoming vote to replace him.
The major parties in NSW, both claiming underdog status in the upcoming Kiama by-election on September 13, have confirmed women candidates, potentially lifting the state's proportion of women MPs over 44 per cent.
The Liberals on Friday announced former Shoalhaven City councillor Serena Copley will be the party's candidate.
"The Liberal Party has a strong record of investing in Kiama, and it's important when people ask themselves who's best to represent them, they look at who has backed our local community," Ms Copley said.
Ms Copley's fellow former councillor Tonia Gray will contest the seat as the Greens candidate after running in 2023.
"It's time we had a new, fresh, clean start in Kiama. It's time we changed and we restore integrity and respect for the community," Dr Gray told AAP.
Labor candidate Katelin McInerney received 49.2 per cent of the vote after preferences in 2023, but will have another crack at the by-election.
The Liberals' coalition partner the Nationals, which has never contested the seat, is not expected to field a candidate.
Nominations close on Thursday.
Ms Copley was the only person to throw her hat in the ring in the 24 hours Liberal candidate nominations were open.
Others who were interested abstained because she "was overwhelmingly going to win a pre-selection", Opposition Leader Mark Speakman told reporters in Kiama on Friday.
The by-election is to replace Gareth Ward, who resigned earlier in August after widespread calls for his departure, prompted by his conviction for sexual and indecent assault in July.
He resigned as the parliament was preparing to vote on his expulsion after a legal challenge to block the move failed.
Ward is awaiting sentencing and intends to appeal his conviction.
A win for Labor would reduce the minority government's reliance on the crossbench, requiring only one additional vote to pass legislation through the lower house.
The election of a woman in Kiama would mark further progress towards gender parity, increasing the number of women to 60 of 135 members across both houses.
It's a marked increase from a decade earlier, when women made up 28 per cent of the parliament following the 2015 election.
It would also be the first time a woman has held the seat.
Labor and the Liberals ran women as candidates in the 2023 election, when Ward narrowly retained the seat as an independent, having first won Kiama for the Liberals in 2011.
Women are under-represented in seven of Australia's nine parliaments, according to analysis from the Australia Institute think tank.
But there are more women parliamentarians than ever following the federal election in May, with 114 men and 112 women across the senate and the house of representatives, the institute says.
Victoria's parliament has an equal number of men and women across both houses, while the ACT parliament has 13 women and 12 men.
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