Gender parity improves as seats go to women, yet there’s still work to be done

Australia is set to have its most diverse Parliament yet as women win seats off men, edging the House of Representatives closer to gender parity.

In the last federal Parliament, women made up just 31% of the 151-member House of Representatives — though led the Senate at 53%. But this Parliament things are changing. The 76-seat Senate will likely increase its female majority closer to an estimated 60%, while the 151-seat House of Representatives will get a much-needed boost in representation, likely nearing 40% women. 

Of the 72 seats that have been called for Labor this election, 34 have gone to women — that’s pretty close to gender parity. Ten seats have gone to female independents and one to a Greens member. Across the Coalition’s 52 seats, just 10 have gone to women (with Bridget Archer projected to win the yet-to-be-called seat of Bass, bringing that number to… 11). Both parties were accused of placing women in “unwinnable” seats, with men picked to run in safer regions. 

Of course, plenty of notable Liberal women have been lost across the election, too: former assistant minister for women Amanda Stoker looks likely to lose her seat, while Lucy Wicks, Katie Allen, Fiona Martin and Celia Hammond have been given the boot. 

Of the 18 seats that changed hands nationally, 15 are held by women. And of those 18 seats, seven were won by women campaigning against men — with independents Allegra Spender, Zoe Daniel, Monique Ryan, Tania Lawrence, Kylea Tink and Sophie Scamps, and the Greens’ Elizabeth Watson-Brown, snatching seats from male career politicians, while independent Dai Le swiped the seat of Fowler from Labor’s Kristina Keneally.

This morning, Katy Gallagher was sworn in as finance minister — the second woman ever to hold the role following Labor Senator Penny Wong in 2010. 

There has been a welcome increase in the representation of First Nations peoples, too. Of the 1200-plus candidates looking for a spot in the House of Representatives, 3% were Indigenous, which is close to representative of the wider population.

The Greens have Lidia Thorpe and Dorinda Cox, while Labor has Gordon Reid, Jana Stewart, Marion Scrymgour, Malarndirri McCarthy and Minister for Indigenous Affairs Linda Burney, the first Indigenous woman in the role. Jacinta Nampijinpa Price for the Country Liberal Party has also scored a seat in the Senate. Of the 227 spots across the two houses, these seats total approximately nearly 4% Indigenous representation — getting closer to being reflective of Australia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese opened his acceptance speech on Saturday with a commitment to implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart, signalling change.

Of course, it’s not a total reset. Parliament is still overwhelmingly white and has poor representation of people with disabilities. Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John is the only current member of Parliament with a known physical disability — and when he was sworn in, in 2018, it became apparent just how unaccessible Parliament was for wheelchair-using politicians.