Gone Girls

While female leaders around the world are rising up, a toxic combination of sexism, bullying and a lack of opportunity has seen the number of women in the Australian Government fall to its lowest level in decades. Something has to change.

- Alexandra Carlton

It began with a pair of red heels. The woman wearing them was former deputy leader of the Liberal Party and foreign minister Julie Bishop, standing in front of the press corps announcing her resignation from parliament after the leadership spill of August 2018. That was the one that saw Malcolm Turnbull deposed and Scott Morrison thrust into the top job (if – like many Australians – you’re struggling to keep the high turnover of PMs straight in your head).

A month later, the usual drab grey and navy suits that slump around Parliament House also lit up with splashes of bright red. Ann Sudmalis, the Federal Liberal member for Gilmore in NSW, who was announcing her resignation from the party citing bullying and backstabbing, wore a red necklace, red earrings and red jacket.

Meanwhile her Liberal colleagues – Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer, South Australian MP Nicolle Flint, Queensland Senator Amanda Stoker and Victorian MP Julia Banks – also buttoned up in crimson.

The only thing missing from the tableau was a sea of white bonnets, which would have really rammed home the message the women of the Liberal Party were reportedly sending to their colleagues: we are not your handmaids; we will not be bullied; we will be heard. Time’s up!