Australian of the Year Ita Buttrose has lashed out at the fact Tony Abbott’s new cabinet only contains one woman, saying it is unacceptable in 2013 and proves a glass ceiling still exists in Australia.
The prime minister-elect unveiled his ministerial line up on Monday, with the only woman in his 19-strong cabinet being Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop.
The lack of women in the top echelon of his government has been condemned by the opposition, and even by some within Abbott’s own party.
Buttrose joined that chorus of criticism on Tuesday, describing Ms Bishop as the “token woman” in cabinet.
“A glass ceiling still does exist in Australia. We’re told it doesn’t, but that’s a nonsense. It does exist,” Buttrose told ABC Radio.
“I’m sure Julie Bishop is accustomed to being the token woman throughout her career, and here she is being the token woman again.”
Buttrose said when she was running Women’s Weekly “years ago”, she had then been concerned about the lack of women in decision making positions in the federal parliament.
“I felt that our voice wasn’t heard well enough, and our views weren’t canvassed well enough,” she said.
“You can’t have that kind of parliament in 2013. It’s unacceptable.”
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But Bishop said she had never considered herself as a token woman: “I believe in people being promoted on merit”.
“I don’t see a glass ceiling,” she told ABC Radio.
“The number of women in the ministry will build over time. Currently there are a number of capable, talented women who will be considered for cabinet in due course.”
Liberal senator Sue Boyce said the lack of women in cabinet was a systemic problem for the party, and the embarrassing omission would tarnish the Coalition victory.
Former Liberal senator Judith Troeth said the Coalition boasted women capable and suitable for promotion to the federal cabinet, but men had “an innate fear of capable women at that level”.
Labor’s acting leader Chris Bowen mocked the lack of women, saying Afghanistan now had better female representation.
Incoming industry minister Ian Macfarlane said it was always good to have a gender balance but the country was in such a mess from Labor it was more important now to have experience.
“If we were a cricket team, we’d be playing down to 17, batting down to 17 before we even started bowling,” he told ABC radio.
“When you realise that people like Andrew Robb are not in the top 10 of the cabinet, you realise the depth.”
Former Howard government minister Amanda Vanstone said she would like to have seen more women in Abbott’s lineup, but she said having good government was more important.
“I know the Gillard government had more women in it. Well, I tell you what, that is not good example of good government. Don’t hold that up as an exemplar of where we ought to go,” she told ABC radio.
“I say that not to say the women were to blame, it’s a collective responsibility, a government.
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“But what I do say is more women doesn’t necessarily make it a better government.”
She said Sophie Mirabella, who is fighting to hold on to her seat of Indi, should have been in the cabinet.
“We can’t blame Abbott for that, Mirabella has to take the blame for that otherwise we would have more women.”
Meanwhile, a Liberal MP has criticised Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott’s decision not to appoint a science minister and says the cabinet hasn’t been chosen entirely on merit.
Dennis Jensen says Abbott’s decision to absorb the science portfolio into the industry and education portfolios will make science a “somewhat schizophrenic policy area”.
“This is something that to me is strange,” Jensen told ABC television on Tuesday.
“We’ve got a minister for sport for God’s sake, but we don’t have a minister for science.”
The West Australian backbencher said Abbott’s frontbench choices weren’t entirely based on merit.
“But that’s a political reality as well,” he said, adding that the decisions were based on keeping a balance between upper and lower house MPs and making sure states were fairly represented.
“There are also internal political power, if you will, issues that you take into consideration when determining what your frontbench make up is.”
But he denied that Abbott had a woman problem and said ministry choices should be based on merit.
Jensen, who last week put his hand up for the job of science minister, criticised his party for not having a coherent policy on science.
“I guess this is the problem with not having people of scientific bent in decision making processes,” he said.
Jensen, a self-confessed climate change sceptic, said Abbott still had time to change his mind and include science as a specific portfolio area before the frontbench was sworn in on Wednesday.
Macfarlane, who as industry minister will also take some responsibility for science, said he was passionate about science.
“My mother is a scientist. My grandfather was a scientist, a geologist,” he told ABC radio.
“I’m a great believer in innovations and inventions.”
