THE LIBERAL PARTY – WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

In the wake of the Coalition loss at the federal election in 2021 and with Liberal state governments across mainland Australia, the Liberal Party faces a reassessment, both organisationally and in terms of policy. To hear something of fresh thinking in Liberal ranks, The Sydney Institute invited three younger and Liberal Party activists to give their take on what is happening. On Monday 22 May 2023, Charlotte Mortlock, political media and policy advisor and convenor of Hilma’s List, Alex Dore, member of the State Executive of the Liberal Party NSW and Freya Leach, Liberal candidate for Balmain 2023 and Law/Commerce student at Sydney University addressed The Sydney Institute before a crowded audience eager to hear their views.

THE LIBERAL PARTY – WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

CHARLOTTE MORTLOCK

I wanted to start by briefly telling you a little bit about myself. Not because I am self-obsessed, but because I think it provides some important context.

I grew up on the north Shore of Sydney in a rusted on Liberal family, where we all voted Liberal but no one was a Party member until me. I had a utopian upbringing and one of my core beliefs is that privilege has responsibility. Personal accountability is one of my favourite Liberal values and one that I try to take very seriously, which is one of the reasons why I am doing all I can to better the Liberal Party.

I was a journalist for 12 years, in New York, Tamworth and then at Sky News for six years as a political reporter and news anchor. Two years ago, I left Sky and started working as an advisor to a politician. At the same time, I launched a podcast about women in their 30s.

Tonight, I’ll be speaking a lot about our party’s issue with women. Off the bat, it’s important to say that I don’t want women to get a leg up. I want them to have an equal opportunity. Also, before anyone says “merit”, and I roll my eyes, I’ll try to beat you to it.

The “on merit” argument never stacks up, because women are always held to a higher standard. No one ever asks which of the men we put in have merit, it seems to be a topic that only comes up when people try to support women.

Since Tony Abbot brought in the Warringah motion, giving branch members a vote in pre-selections in 2017, there has only been ONE time that a woman has beaten a man, unless they were the incumbent. If you think that in all of those cases, in five whole years, we simply had impressive men who deserved all those spots, you are wilfully living in a fantasy land.

I have been vocal about some ways forward for the Party, but I acknowledge that I have been able to do that for a few reasons.

Firstly, I myself do not want to run. I can speak openly and honestly about what I think the Party should do to improve because I don’t need to win a pre-selection, so I don’t need to appease members. Tonight, I am not trying to win you over to vote for me. I won’t be saying what I think you want to hear, I’ll say what I truthfully believe the Party must address.

Secondly, while I am now heavily involved in politics, and have made some good friends in this sphere, none of my long term friends or family work in politics. I have less skin in the game and have a life outside of politics.

I asked a Sydney Institute member last week what they would like to hear in this speech. And they said hope. I am glad to say that this evening I can absolutely give you that.

Amid a pretty diabolical year for the Party brand in 2022, I decided to start asking people to join the party. I launched Hilma’s Network to recruit women between the ages of 30-60 to the Liberal Party membership. We host fun, casual and interesting events every two months.

In nine months, Hilma’s Network has amassed 1000 members. We have expanded to five states, with representatives in each. Last week in Canberra, we hosted our fifth sold out event this year. There is your dose of hope. Despite the odds, women are still wanting to come to events that are openly affiliated with the Liberal Party. There is hope we can win them back, there is hope we can win seats back.

However, you all knew it was coming – hope is simply a pipe dream until it’s a reality. And in order to create that, we will all need to make compromises on what the Liberal Party is, who it represents, and the role we each play in it.

Some of you here tonight will say “stop talking about ourselves and focus on Labor”. I categorically disagree. Time in opposition is valuable for reform and we need to use it wisely. If we don’t publicly acknowledge that we know we have some flaws to work through, the public will continue to think we lack self-awareness.

I also know that some people inside the Party will be saying “Oh it’s all just a cycle! The Party will come back” Or “It’s always swings and roundabouts for political parties.” These are the people who are not bold, not brave, and not ready to do the work. They are looking for excuses so the Party can just stay the same. These are not our pioneers. They are not our trail blazers. They are not the people who will lead us to election winning glory.

This time it is different. We are on the precipice of losing entire generations. The data shows, people are not simply getting more conservative as they age. And we cannot afford to simply twiddle our thumbs and wait to be back in fashion. What the Liberal Party has done for too long, is taken for granted rusted on Libs that might not be members, but have still always voted for us.

Now these people are saying “do better”. They are not saying, we will never come back, but they are saying, unless you change, we won’t. I personally think that’s fair. I don’t think our Party is at its best.

I do believe there is absolutely a way for us to maintain our Liberal values, but modernise and evolve enough to appeal to women and people under 55, which are the demographics we have lost. The thing every Liberal needs to be asking themselves right now, is how much are you willing to compromise for the greater good of this Party?

At the moment there are a lot of Liberals who I truly believe would prefer us to keep losing than to make concessions and start winning. For example, the people in our Party with the most power are the people who have been here the longest. And that is a gaping flaw.

The Liberal Party is not a charity. We should not be rewarding long service. It is not competitive, not objective, not in line with corporate Australia, and not in line with Liberal values. We need to be looking at individuals objectively and saying “who is the best person for this job” and “who can win this seat”. Not who has been a party member since their days in Young Liberals, who has taken the most members to coffees and who has worked on the most campaigns.

Of course, we should be grateful and appreciative for the work our loyalist members have done, and we should be asking for their insight. But those who believe the Liberal Party owes them a position need to check their entitlement.

Nepotism in the Liberal Party is rife. Predominantly it’s male MPs mobilising for male staffers. There are exceptions to that where women benefit, but more commonly it’s men. Individuals with political staffing experience end up favoured over those with experience in other industries, and there is zero doubt this affects our policy. We need nurses, lawyers, creatives and tradies, all at the table bringing their own ideas to our policy formulation.

It’s not only staffing, but “doing the work” that favors men. We have to strike a balance where we know our candidates well enough to endorse and vote for them, but not so much that those hours of schmoozing overrule our ability to objectively judge candidates’ likability and winability for an election.

Predominantly, women are the primary caregivers. They often do not have the time to be working on their own political aspirations. This is a very real, systemic disadvantage for women. I’m not saying that women should be handed seats on a platter. I’m not saying that women don’t need to work bloody hard if they want the gig. I am saying, sometimes we will need to look past the dude who’s been working the branch for 15 years.

For the Liberal Party to come back, what we desperately need is fresh blood. The public wants to see a new, fresh, Liberal Party. So, recycling former politicians or people who have held power inside the structure or conferences before, for another whirl is completely nonsensical.

Why is it that way? And who is resistant to changing that? The answer is, those who currently hold power internally. Perhaps they don’t want to relinquish some personal power for the greater good of the party. Perhaps they’re nervous that new people would be more impressive than them and ruin their ambitions. Perhaps they’re scared of change, new ideas and new perspectives. All of these are weak attributes. And we are not supposed to be a weak Party.

We are supposed to be bold and not risk averse. Open-minded and not meek. Focused on equal opportunity and not exclusivity or elitism, and certainly not nepotism. Hilma’s Network is factionless and, to be honest, I think factions are no longer tenable and we’d be better off without them.

We beat our chests about being a broad church but then only support people who agree with every single thing we say. This is childish and narrow minded. We need to be more curious about those we disagree with. What can we learn? What context is interesting?

If you want to be in a place where your thoughts are only affirmed and never challenged, then spend more time on the internet where the algorithm only ever tells you you’re right and you’re further radicalised, siloed and ostracised from society, your friends and family. But gee, doesn’t it feel good to be right?

I got married a few weeks ago. My vows included one of the most important things about my relationship. It was that my husband would make me a better version of myself. I never wanted someone that tells me I’m always right, or doesn’t get me outside of my comfort zone, or doesn’t push me beyond my capabilities. I wanted someone who enhances me.

And the Liberal members need to ask themselves whether they are making the Party a better version of itself. Why are you involved in our Party? Is it for yourself and because holding a position makes you feel powerful? Or is it for Australia, and to improve our democracy?

If it’s the latter, then we all need to be selfless and relinquish power to make space for new blood, we need to be voting for the person who is the best, not who we know the best.

I could have come here tonight and spoken to you about policy ideas. Because I do have a lot of them. But let me make this very clear. Right now, there is no point talking about policy because no one is listening. No one is trusting us. Our messages won’t cut through until we fix ourselves internally, overhaul our culture and show Australia that we catch their drift. Without that, policy formulation is redundant.

I’d like to delve into some key facts on our women’s issue.

• Firstly, the average Australian is a 37-year old female. The average Liberal member is a male in his 70s.
• Federally, of the Coalition’s MPs, just 29 per cent are women.
• Female Coalition candidates performed better than male ones in New South Wales

While there is hope for the Liberal Party, there is no hope if we do not fix our women’s issue. Professional women are the fastest growing segment and the largest portion of the Australian workforce. In Queensland, one of our worst performing states on gender, the LNP hold 21 seats, and just 3 are female. That is likely to reduce to two in the coming months, meaning female representation at a federal level from Queensland would be 9 per cent.

That is why they won’t vote for us. That is why women are embarrassed to admit to voting Liberal. How can they support a party that is seemingly comfortable with that statistic being the best an Australian state can do in 2023? Whether that statistic bothers each of you is actually irrelevant. Because it bothers the women of Australia. So, we’ll need to fix it if we want to win.

Some of you here tonight will say, “Well that’s because women don’t want to be in politics, so why is that our fault?” If you look at the most senior women in the Labor Party, many have young children and they still want to do the job. If this isn’t impacting the Labor Party, why is it impacting us? Women are not a minority, and they are not a fringe group that we can overlook. In New South Wales, they make up 52 per cent of the population. They are the clear majority.

When I bang on about women in politics, constantly, I am not so passionate about this because the optics are good — though they are. I don’t want them there to be tokenistic or to virtue signal to the public that yay – we’re pro women! I want them there, because we will be better because of it.

Men and women think differently. They behave differently. They change dynamics in party rooms and they change cultures in Parties. But, consistently, we cannot get women at that table. We don’t have enough MPs mobilising to back them in and show support, we don’t have a structure that supports them, our base doesn’t reflect them, and often older women are their toughest critics and most stubborn obstacle.

To the members who fancy themselves as pro women, it is worth reflecting on whether that translates to their voting record. So many people tell me gleefully they’re pro women, but just can’t support a woman this time because it’s their friend. Or they want a woman, just not this woman, or they expect other conferences to fix gender issues so they don’t have to.

Changing this Party is not hard. They tell us it’s hard, so no one tries.

I am not a coward, and I hope the Liberal members listening tonight aren’t too scared to evolve. This is our Party’s of mice and men moment. If you want hope for the future, you’ll need to be brave. The Liberal Party’s next iteration is for the bold only.