State opposition leader Matthew Guy still believes he can achieve an ambitious goal to increase the proportion of Liberal women in Parliament by 10 per cent at every election despite five out of the last six Liberal preselections being won by men. <\/p>\n
Last April, Mr Guy became the first Victorian Liberal leader to set a target to lift female representation in politics, and also established a new group - Women to Win to recruit, train and mentor aspiring candidates. <\/p>\n
\"If we want more women in our state parliamentary ranks then we have to get serious,\" he said at the time. <\/p>\n
Since then, the Liberals have held six consecutive preselections for the safe seats of Evelyn, Brighton, Burwood, Narracan, Nepean and Sandringham, yet only one Evelyn was won by a female candidate. <\/p>\n
However, when asked if he believed Liberal members were serious enough about tackling the party's gender gap and whether he thought his broader target could still be achieved Mr Guy said yes. <\/p>\n
\"Our Women to Win program is doing some great work in identifying and mentoring a fantastic group of potential candidates who might in the future put themselves forward for preselection,\" he said. \"Our goal is to have as many talented, hardworking, and community minded women and men as possible running for each preselection so branch members can preselect the best candidate for that particular electorate.\" <\/p>\n
Labor, however, accuses the Liberals of going backwards. While Goodyear procurement manager Bridget Vallence was chosen last Saturday to replace retiring Liberal MP Christine Fyffe in Evelyn, earlier in the seat of Brighton, former staffer James Newbury was chosen to replace veteran Louise Asher, who is also quitting at the next election. <\/p>\n
\"Only in the Liberal Party can replacing a woman with a woman be described as a 'boost' for gender targets,\" Labor MP Jaala Pulford tweeted last week. <\/p>\n
Mr Guy's comments come as nominations for upper house preselections closed on Friday, with Liberal powerbroker Inga Peulich facing a fight to remain in Parliament after three people - Mordialloc MP Lorraine Wreford, councillor Damien Rosario, and Mark Barrow - challengedher spot in the south-east metro region. <\/p>\n
In the eastern metropolitan region, veteran MP and president of Parliament's upper house Bruce Atkinson is also being challenged by Nick Demiris, a former staffer to conservative Abbott Government minister Kevin Andrews. <\/p>\n
Nine people have also nominated to replace former minister Richard Dalla-Riva in the same region, including former staffer to premier Ted Baillieu and major fundraiser Gladys Liu. <\/p>\n
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Gender targets can still be achieved, says Liberal leader Matthew Guy - The Age<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" State opposition leader Matthew Guy still believes he can achieve an ambitious goal to increase the proportion of Liberal women in Parliament by 10 per cent at every election despite five out of the last six Liberal preselections being won by men. Last April, Mr Guy became the first Victorian Liberal leader to set a target to lift female representation in politics, and also established a new group - Women to Win to recruit, train and mentor aspiring candidates. \"If we want more women in our state parliamentary ranks then we have to get serious,\" he said at the time. Continue reading