Liberals slam gender quotas as ‘disgraceful’ and ‘antithetical’ in leaked messages

<p>Former Young Liberals president Alex Dore compares push to Liberal party putting a trade union boss into a leadership position</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/jul/04/victoria-daisy-hill-ebikes-anthony-albanese-sussan-ley-labor-coalition-politics-updates-ntwnfb">Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates</a></p></li><li><p>Get our <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/email-newsletters?CMP=cvau_sfl">breaking news email</a>, <a href="https://app.adjust.com/w4u7jx3">free app</a> or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/series/full-story?CMP=cvau_sfl">daily news podcast</a></p></li></ul><p>Leaked messages from a WhatsApp group of Liberal party members in New South Wales have labelled calls for gender quotas as “embarrassing”, as the push for stronger female representation grows.</p><p>The latest discord followed a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/04/liberal-party-frontbencher-melissa-mcintosh-proposes-alternative-to-quotas-for-women">meeting of the NSW Liberal Women’s Council</a> on Wednesday night, where attenders said a majority of the women were in support of quotas and broad cultural change after May’s federal election loss.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/04/liberal-party-gender-quotas-leaked-messages-ntwnfb">Continue reading...</a>