Former Coalition cabinet minister Karen Andrews says she is disappointed her party has not preselected a woman to contest her long-held Gold Coast seat.
No women were in the running for the weekend’s internal Liberal National Party vote, in which solicitor Leon Rebello was chosen as the party’s candidate for McPherson in the next federal election.
Ms Andrews, who will retire at the next election, said she could not convince a woman to put their name forward to run.
“I find it enormously frustrating,” Ms Andrews said.
“From my point of view, it wasn’t for want of trying, I certainly approached a number of women but couldn’t get them across the line for a range of reasons.”
A review in the wake of the 2022 federal election recommended the party adopt targets for 50 per cent female representation in parliament within a decade.
It also called for parity in female representation in Liberal branches and the executive within the same period.
Ms Andrews said some women were reluctant to put “themselves and their families through [it] when it is constant criticism and constant, constant negativity”.
But she said she hoped the results from the last federal election did not drop any further.
“It was very low, the number of women coming into parliament. I wouldn’t want it to slip any further,” she said.
“I’ve been very public about my disappointment.
“I’ve also said that I don’t have to be replaced by a woman, but I am terribly disappointed that there was not a female in the mix for the LNP.”
She said voters were not opposed to electing women, pointing out the success of teal independents across the country.
“So it’s very clear that the Australian community has no issue with electing women to federal parliament,” she said.
“What seems to be an issue is making sure that the major parties are putting up as their candidates, particularly in winnable seats … women who could then be elected.”
‘We’ve had Maggie and now me’
Mr Rebello won the preselection contest against against three other men.
They included a former staffer of Ms Andrews’, Ben Naday, former advisor to John Howard, David Stevens, and an ex-staffer for Barnaby Joyce, Adam Fitzgibbons.
Mr Rebello — who has lived on the Gold Coast for three years and originally hails from Canberra — pointed to the fact that he is just the second Queensland candidate preselected to run in the next election so far.
The other is lawyer Maggie Forrest, who has been preselected to run in the inner-Brisbane seat of Ryan, which the Liberal Party lost to the Greens in 2022.
In terms of preselected candidates, Mr Rebello said that put Queensland on parity so far.
“In relation to women … I think what people would expect is that we have representatives from all walks of life,” he said.
“So what I bring to the table is someone from a different cultural background, who does have that private and public sector experience.
“Out of the first two to be selected, you know, we’ve had Maggie and now me.”