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Celebration of music Girgarre Moosic Muster director Jan Smith was overjoyed with the response to this year’s event, with more than
200 people enjoying a mix of acoustic music, friendliness and country market fare. Full story, page 6
SEXISM IS RIFELIBERALS’ MEMBER FOR MURRAY SAYS HER PARTY NEEDS QUOTA TO ENSURE A BETTER GENDER BALANCE
By ELAINE COONEY
Federal member for Mur-
ray Sharman Stone is calling
on the Liberal party to intro-
duce gender and Indigenous
quotas in parliament.
Dr Stone said while she
would like to see a balance
of men and women and
Indigenous people in cabi-
net, she is suggesting quotas
be in place for the pre-
selection of candidates.
The Federal Liberals have
74 members, 15 of which are
women and women make
up two of the 19 cabinet
members.
When Dr Stone was asked
if she felt there was sexism
within the Liberal party, she
replied ‘‘yes’’.
‘‘There is a definite tend-
ency towards the traditional
conservative view that men
would be better in the role
in parliament than
women,’’ she said.
Dr Stone said there were
male and female vice-
presidents of the Liberals,
but the same rules did not
move up the chain to mem-
bers of parliament.
She praised the Labor
Party initiative Emily’s List,
which focuses on improving
gender balance in parlia-
ment.
She said the quota could
run for the next two to three
election cycles and believed
the balance would then
occur naturally.
‘‘Women are less likely to
be pre-selected in winnable
seats,’’ she said.
Dr Stone said she was no
exception because the seat of
Murray appeared to be a safe
Nationals seat before she
took the position in 2006.
She wanted women to be
placed in seats where they
were likely to get elected and
not in impossible to win
seats just to tick a box.
● Continued page 2