00:00Libby Lyons twice unsuccessfully stood for Liberal pre-selection at state and federal level.
00:08I think the fact that I was a woman, I think the fact that I speak my mind,
00:13I think the fact that there were factions involved, power brokers involved.
00:17She later served as Director of the Federal Workplace Gender Equality Agency
00:21and while she's not against quotas, she believes enforceable and flexible targets are better.
00:27I think targets are a better way to go if they're implemented correctly
00:32and the reason targets are a better way to go is that they drive the cultural change that's needed
00:38to actually entice more women and younger people.
00:42Former Premier Colin Barnett is also reluctant on quotas.
00:45I would prefer to see that not only the Liberal Party seeking more women candidates,
00:51going out and finding them good candidates,
00:54well in advance and I'm talking about two or three years before an election
00:58and giving them winnable or safe seats.
01:01The Liberal Party would need to change its constitution to introduce quotas
01:05through a 75% majority vote at its state conference.
01:08It's a high bar and the opposition of one or two influential figures could sink the idea.
01:13Deputy Liberal Leader Libby Metham remains open to both quotas and targets.
01:18We need to see more Liberal women in Parliament and we need to see,
01:25while we had a number of women in key seats at the last election,
01:30there is certainly more that we can do.
01:32WA Liberal Party President Caroline de Russo defended the party's performance,
01:37saying it did its best to increase female representation.
01:40Mr Russo says the party had more than 44% female candidates in key seats at the March state election.
01:48Overall, the Liberals chose women candidates in about one third of all state seats.
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