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When Anthony Albanese walks into Labor's party room tomorrow, he'll be met with a sight never seen before. Staring back at him will be a caucus with record levels of women in Labor's ranks.
On the current numbers, the party room will be 57 per cent women, representing a more than 40 per cent increase since the party first brought in affirmative action gender quotas in 1994.
The female-dominated left faction (of which women make up 70 per cent of the membership) too is on the ascendancy and looks set to be the dominant faction in the new-look party room.
John Howard liked to say that "politics is governed by the iron laws of arithmetic" and it's those cold hard numbers that are leaving no shortage of Labor blokes a little nervous.
Despite being a majority female caucus, Labor only reached cabinet gender equity in January, when the prime minister promoted Queenslander Anika Wells to the top table.
No shortage of people have privately noted just how many men hold senior leadership roles in the government, including the prime minister, his deputy Richard Marles, senate deputy Don Farrell, leader of the house Tony Burke and his deputy Mark Butler.
Excluding Albanese and Butler, the other men are from the right, which has long fallen behind the left in promoting women.
The way Labor works is the factions put forward their frontbench candidates and the PM allocates their roles. Albanese publicly insists he respects the caucus process but don't for a second think he can't shape what they put forward.
Shockingly, despite all the women in their ranks, those putting names forward for promotion seemed to miss the memo.
Australia will be represented by more women in federal parliament than ever before, after Saturday's election saw voters choose a series of women over men. The left's Tim Ayers, Julian Hill and and the right's Sam Rae, Josh Burns, Andrew Charlton and Daniel Mulino were all being touted.
Some would argue the PM is spoilt for choices, with upwards of 60 people able to make a claim on the 30 frontbench positions.
The growth in Labor's left faction means the already over-represented right faction will have to take losses, putting cabinet ministers Tony Burke, Chris Bowen, Jason Clare and Ed Husic at risk of demotion.
Husic, the nation's first Muslim cabinet minister, has already once before had to step back from the frontbench and is said to be digging in to fight for his position this time around. Husic was the only of the four to have a swing towards him in their western Sydney electorates. The first casualty that emerged was Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who was sensationally dumped by his Victorian right faction.
Which talented woman is replacing him you ask?
His replacement, pushed by Marles, is Sam Rae, a largely unknown former Victorian Labor secretary and whose served just one term in office.
History awaits for the Liberal Party
Peter Dutton stuck the dagger into the hearts of the Labor faithful on election night 2019. Having held off a challenge from Labor's Ali France, he quoted Paul Keating in claim his win was the "sweetest victory of all".
Two attempts later and it would be France who was having the last laugh, defeating Dutton in a Labor landslide in the Sunshine State.
Almost immediately, Liberals started vying for what is sure to be the worst job in politics: the leader of the opposition. Four names emerged, but almost as soon as the conversations started, defence spokesperson Andrew Hastie ruled himself out.
Immigration spokesperson Dan Tehan, thought to potentially be a compromise candidate for the warring wings of the party, too seemed unlikely as the days rolled on. It left just deputy leader Sussan Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, two regional NSW Libs, as the contenders.
Outgoing Liberal senator Hollie Hughes, who blames her plight on Angus Taylor, was quick out of the gates laying the blame of the election at the shadow treasurer's feet, questioning his "capability" and wondering "what he's been doing for three years" to give the party "zero economic policy to sell".
"Whilst [he has made] efforts to get rid of people like me in his leadership ambitions, I am still in the party room until June 30 and get to vote for the next leader," she told RN Breakfast. "So it may not have worked out too well from him, that plan."
Ley has continued to gain public support in the days since, including from three former premiers, outgoing MP Warren Entsch and Tasmanian senator Richard Colbeck. Another senior Liberal, speaking on the condition of anonymity, put it simply: there is no choice but Ley.
"If we turn up with another white man, meaning we’ve turned our back on a competent woman who has held her own the last three years, after being electorally smashed by young people and women, if we are not going to vote for her, we would be crazy," they said.
“If we turn up with anybody but Sussan, we are toast."
Women make up just 30 per cent of the Liberal party room, but have just four MPs in the House of Representatives. The party's ranks gained an unexpected increase late on Thursday, with NT senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price announcing she was moving to the Liberals.
If elected, Ley would be the first woman to lead the federal Liberal Party.
Tim-mentum faces instant push back
Tim Wilson had his talking points mapped out even before polling day. His would be a historic win on multiple fronts, he predicted.
As votes were being counted, he was texting Liberal James McGrath, who was on the ABC's election night broadcast, to point out some of his already prepared fun facts like how no Liberal had beaten an independent elected at a general election since 1913.
The former Liberal member says he's humbled to gain another term in government and criticised the departing independent for not conceding defeat.
For a while there, it was looking like it might not be, with results on election night suggesting he had been twice rejected by the Victorian bayside voters in Goldstein. By Wednesday morning, he was hosting an emotional victory press conference where he made no secret of his frontbench aspirations.
Jason Falinski, a fellow 2022 Liberal loser to a teal independent, too stoked the Tim for Canberra vibes, telling Sky News that the Coalition needs to spend more time listening to Wilson, less time listening to Nationals backbencher Matt Canavan.
But almost as soon as Wilson started speaking at his press conference, it was clear that not everyone was picking up what he was putting down, eager to point out what they saw as flaws in Wilson's record in office.
Politicians often forget that to be a minister, you need to be a MP. Wilson learned the hard way three years ago, when voters said he no longer represented what they wanted. I
n the years since, he's maintained a presence at Parliament House. His victory now means he can again have an office in the building.
He might not want to spend too much time measuring up the drapes for that office. Having barely won with 50 per cent after preferences, it's far from guaranteed how long he'll get to stay.
Don't forget your toothbrush
Adam Bandt spent plenty of his campaign travelling around with a trusty companion.
The giant toothbrush represented the core of the Greens campaign, and how they planned to use their balance of power position in a hung parliament to force Labor to adopt their policies, like immediately expanding dental coverage in Medicare.
As the results started rolling in, the Greens celebrated their "record" vote, even as two of the party's three Queensland seats fell.
The glee the party felt at Dutton losing its seat would soon turn to horror days later, when Bandt too found himself bundled out of parliament. Liberal and Labor politicians were quick to dance on his grave, even before the body had been put in the ground.
Trade Minister Don Farrell dubbed Labor's win in Melbourne was the "sweetest victory" he'd witnessed in politics (it's quite the claim from a factional warlord who's had no shortage of involvement in tearing down prime ministers).
With Bandt vanquished, the party will select a new leader. How they will do it will be anyone's guess. It was only months after the event that it emerged that Sarah Hanson-Young had launched an unsuccessful bid to be deputy leader after the 2010 ballot.
As Annabel Crabb noted a decade ago, there's a "whiff of Moscow" about Greens leadership ballots.
Whether Hanson-Young or current deputy Mehreen Faruqi prove victorious, publicly, there will be smiles. Privately, it'll be a whole different matter.
In the meantime, there's no shortage of Labor and Coalition politicians offering Bandt a farewell message. In the words of Tim Ferguson, don't forget your toothbrush. |
