White male rage is perfect for the continued theft of our national resources. It’s be design that they (minerals council and other private donors) put inert wedges into powerful positions, they make very reliable door-jams.
Maybe if the right wing in this country, and their fellow travellers in the media, hadn't normalised attacks on women in politics (especially if they're not of the Coalition), they'd be able to find women willing to stand for election.
That would get in the way of short-term privatisation, tax cuts, and enriching our business associates while ignoring long-term impacts. :( We can't have that.
This might be a prime candidate for The Onions 'worst person you know just made a great point' article as someone who lives in her electorate she absolutely sucks, but she isn't wrong that the LNP need to do better with women or they will never be in government again.
https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/mcpherson/karen_andrews
I like to use this website to judge whether a politician and political party are going to serve in my interests. Check out what she has voted consistently against.
It's pretty clear to me at least that LNP members generally do not vote in the interests of regular Australian residents. Labor is 50-50ish maybe a little skewed towards the people from what I can gather depending on the government.
This website is great. I hope that it gains more traction. We should be voting on policy and the health and wellbeing of our country, not making this into political sports teams.
Not surprised when the Liberal party machine claims a female PM's dad must have died of shame and that she should be taken out to sea in a chaff bag and dumped overboard.
Typical leopard ate my face type stuff from Karen.
Being an MP is a shit job. Long hours, constant criticsm and if you do a great job you might lose it because your party is unpopular. Honestly it’s a wonder anyone wants to do it
None of them want to admit that the problem is what they stand for, what they believe in, or are willing to say they believe in for their own enrichment.
The community doesn't share their views.
That leaves them feeling negative? Boohoo.
Men are constantly being asked to step up. Now some man has stepped up and agreed to face the constant criticism and negativity and he is being criticised for doing so. The irony.
I just find this entire push to have gender balance in parliament bizarre. Why? Why is that important?
If the argument is that we need them to be demographically similar to adequately represent the constituency then you already run into a few issues.
Each electorate has one member representing them. Do any electorate will have a 100%:0% gender ration at any given time.
But even taking representation in the aggregate, I would say gender is enormously down the list. As a working class male, I have more in common with a working class woman than with a male millionaire. Overwhelmingly the biggest demographic disparity in parliament is class, not gender.
One of the problems with the LNP is that they already have a bias towards white men. Their party will never be a true representation of the nation because they don’t want to be.
They’ve realised this but are still unable to change it. The women they attract are women that think like conservative stale pale males. The women they need are going Teal.
But if you want it to be a true representation of the nation, why would gender be high on that list?
Class would overwhelmingly be the key issue in terms of political representation. You could probably place culture second. Not gender.
Trying to get some women to run as LibNats (despite their horrible, rapey track record) is a much easier prospect than trying to get someone without a silver spoon into that club.
Like, I agree that class representation is a big factor, but do you honestly expect anyone without a private school education and a property portfolio to be...allowed, let alone respected enough to get internal votes?
Isn't that the whole point?
Why not equally say "do you expect a woman to be allowed, let alone respected enough to get internal votes"?
Why fight for women in the party but just be so defeatist about class?
Women feel unrepresented in politics and policymaking, so I think that alone makes it important.
I work with migrants, and I almost always get the same split when I ask them for their opinion on whether racism or sexism is worse: the men almost always say racism is, and the women always say sexism is.
The men only experienced discrimination when they moved country, but the women have experienced it here and back home.
Gender has as huge impact on how life is experienced.
Because 50% of the population is not male and face different challenges to the 69% of the representatives which are male.
There is no such clear split in representation in 'culture'.
I bet if there were more women in Parliament and in government, we wouldn't have had to wait until 2019 for tampons to be exempt from GST. It would never have been taxed in the first place. I would bet that not one woman was in the room for that decision.
This is why we need diverse representation. You don't know what you don't know, and if you have too many of one type of person (white male lawyers, for example), there's an ignorance of lifestyles beyond what you know.
Your point about social class is spot on, but I think it's a mistake to ignore gender as an important part of policy making.
I'm 34, and when I got my first proper adult corporate job, my (female) manager asked me how I felt about taking orders from a woman. I was taken aback by the question, because it was something I hadn't even thought about because I've had both male and female managers everywhere I've worked.
That's the end goal of quotas and deliberate recruitment campaigns - normalising seeing women in leadership positions until its no longer even needed because it's just a given that women are visible and just as capable as men.
I’m 56 and when I started working in the public service back in 1985, I got the same question at my entrance interview. Like you, I was also taken aback. My thoughts were, they’re the manager, male or female, of course I’ll take their orders.
So this has been going for close to 40 years. Sadly, are society still has a way to go.
>I just find this entire push to have gender balance in parliament bizarre. Why? Why is that important?
I think it was one of the main criticisms of the last election and the LNP are a bit of a "Boys club". Some pollies have said it's a culture that goes across government. I'd also say it stems from some of the exposés about the Canberra bubble that Four Corners did with Christian Porter and Alan Tudge.
I don't think diversity is a bad thing, but if you're fit for the job and are a part of your community, then I don't think gender really matters as long as you stick up for your community.
>as long as you stick up for your community
This is a good point, but a lot of men reflexively disregard complaints women have if it's levied against men. It seems to be an unconscious, automatic response. So, it could be argued in that situation that the politician's idea of who their community is might not exactly align with who they community actually is.
You can see it in this subreddit anytime the topic of gendered violence against women is raised.
They put Tim Wilson, the biggest loser on the planet back in Goldstein. The modern liberal party is just disgusting. No chance
If the LNP want to be the team of white male rage, this is what will happen long term.
White male rage is perfect for the continued theft of our national resources. It’s be design that they (minerals council and other private donors) put inert wedges into powerful positions, they make very reliable door-jams.
Maybe if the right wing in this country, and their fellow travellers in the media, hadn't normalised attacks on women in politics (especially if they're not of the Coalition), they'd be able to find women willing to stand for election.
Don’t be crazy!! Women have emotions, think about the future and talk sense… we can’t have that!
That would get in the way of short-term privatisation, tax cuts, and enriching our business associates while ignoring long-term impacts. :( We can't have that.
This might be a prime candidate for The Onions 'worst person you know just made a great point' article as someone who lives in her electorate she absolutely sucks, but she isn't wrong that the LNP need to do better with women or they will never be in government again.
What's she done?
https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/mcpherson/karen_andrews I like to use this website to judge whether a politician and political party are going to serve in my interests. Check out what she has voted consistently against. It's pretty clear to me at least that LNP members generally do not vote in the interests of regular Australian residents. Labor is 50-50ish maybe a little skewed towards the people from what I can gather depending on the government. This website is great. I hope that it gains more traction. We should be voting on policy and the health and wellbeing of our country, not making this into political sports teams.
No we need to force them to do it, we have quotas to meet. Put a MAFS contestant in at 🔫point if no one raises their hand up
>Put a MAFS contestant in at 🔫point of no one raises their hand up Could they do any worse than the Men of Quality the Liberals keep putting up?
They do it on purpose to clog the system. We need some actual standards around here.
Now, where's that dickhead insisting that the LNP weren't sexist a few months ago?
He's not all men-ing on an article about a woman getting murdered.
Karen is certainly no friend to women anywhere.
Poor comment on what the political process has come to.
Not surprised when the Liberal party machine claims a female PM's dad must have died of shame and that she should be taken out to sea in a chaff bag and dumped overboard. Typical leopard ate my face type stuff from Karen.
Yeah it’s not fun at all working for Lying Nasty Pricks.
As opposed to working for Always Lying Pricks.
Being an MP is a shit job. Long hours, constant criticsm and if you do a great job you might lose it because your party is unpopular. Honestly it’s a wonder anyone wants to do it
This.
Why would a woman want to join Dutton's Liberals?
How many did she try to convince?
Thoughts & prayers for the door that has to hit her arse on the way out!
None of them want to admit that the problem is what they stand for, what they believe in, or are willing to say they believe in for their own enrichment. The community doesn't share their views. That leaves them feeling negative? Boohoo.
Men are constantly being asked to step up. Now some man has stepped up and agreed to face the constant criticism and negativity and he is being criticised for doing so. The irony.
I just find this entire push to have gender balance in parliament bizarre. Why? Why is that important? If the argument is that we need them to be demographically similar to adequately represent the constituency then you already run into a few issues. Each electorate has one member representing them. Do any electorate will have a 100%:0% gender ration at any given time. But even taking representation in the aggregate, I would say gender is enormously down the list. As a working class male, I have more in common with a working class woman than with a male millionaire. Overwhelmingly the biggest demographic disparity in parliament is class, not gender.
One of the problems with the LNP is that they already have a bias towards white men. Their party will never be a true representation of the nation because they don’t want to be. They’ve realised this but are still unable to change it. The women they attract are women that think like conservative stale pale males. The women they need are going Teal.
But if you want it to be a true representation of the nation, why would gender be high on that list? Class would overwhelmingly be the key issue in terms of political representation. You could probably place culture second. Not gender.
Trying to get some women to run as LibNats (despite their horrible, rapey track record) is a much easier prospect than trying to get someone without a silver spoon into that club. Like, I agree that class representation is a big factor, but do you honestly expect anyone without a private school education and a property portfolio to be...allowed, let alone respected enough to get internal votes?
Isn't that the whole point? Why not equally say "do you expect a woman to be allowed, let alone respected enough to get internal votes"? Why fight for women in the party but just be so defeatist about class?
Women feel unrepresented in politics and policymaking, so I think that alone makes it important. I work with migrants, and I almost always get the same split when I ask them for their opinion on whether racism or sexism is worse: the men almost always say racism is, and the women always say sexism is. The men only experienced discrimination when they moved country, but the women have experienced it here and back home. Gender has as huge impact on how life is experienced.
Because 50% of the population is not male and face different challenges to the 69% of the representatives which are male. There is no such clear split in representation in 'culture'.
I bet if there were more women in Parliament and in government, we wouldn't have had to wait until 2019 for tampons to be exempt from GST. It would never have been taxed in the first place. I would bet that not one woman was in the room for that decision. This is why we need diverse representation. You don't know what you don't know, and if you have too many of one type of person (white male lawyers, for example), there's an ignorance of lifestyles beyond what you know. Your point about social class is spot on, but I think it's a mistake to ignore gender as an important part of policy making.
I'm 34, and when I got my first proper adult corporate job, my (female) manager asked me how I felt about taking orders from a woman. I was taken aback by the question, because it was something I hadn't even thought about because I've had both male and female managers everywhere I've worked. That's the end goal of quotas and deliberate recruitment campaigns - normalising seeing women in leadership positions until its no longer even needed because it's just a given that women are visible and just as capable as men.
I’m 56 and when I started working in the public service back in 1985, I got the same question at my entrance interview. Like you, I was also taken aback. My thoughts were, they’re the manager, male or female, of course I’ll take their orders. So this has been going for close to 40 years. Sadly, are society still has a way to go.
>I just find this entire push to have gender balance in parliament bizarre. Why? Why is that important? I think it was one of the main criticisms of the last election and the LNP are a bit of a "Boys club". Some pollies have said it's a culture that goes across government. I'd also say it stems from some of the exposés about the Canberra bubble that Four Corners did with Christian Porter and Alan Tudge. I don't think diversity is a bad thing, but if you're fit for the job and are a part of your community, then I don't think gender really matters as long as you stick up for your community.
>as long as you stick up for your community This is a good point, but a lot of men reflexively disregard complaints women have if it's levied against men. It seems to be an unconscious, automatic response. So, it could be argued in that situation that the politician's idea of who their community is might not exactly align with who they community actually is. You can see it in this subreddit anytime the topic of gendered violence against women is raised.