The first female president of the NSW Young Liberals, Catherine Cusack, says Prime Minister Scott Morrison has failed to grasp any understanding of how diabolical politics has become for women.
Ms Cusack, a long-serving NSW upper house MP, said Mr Morrison “no doubt means well” but has no idea about the issues that are leaving Liberal women devastated about the state of the party.
Upper house MP Catherine Cusack has told Premier Gladys Berejiklian she will no longer sit in the party room.Credit:Facebook
“Just because you love your wife and your daughters and your mother does not make you an icon for women’s rights,” Ms Cusack, a former Australian president of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians, said.
“When I heard the Prime Minister say that, I wanted to scream ‘I am not your wife’ but that does not mean I do not matter, we all matter and Scott Morrison does not seem to get it.”
In an extraordinary move, Ms Cusack said she was so appalled with her party’s treatment of women that she will no longer attend parliamentary party room meetings.
“I intend to take some leave and while I won’t be leaving the Liberal party, I will no longer be listening to the [Berejiklian] government,” Ms Cusack said.
She said she had informed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian of her decision. Ms Cusack’s move will make the government’s position in the upper house even more precarious.
Ms Cusack, who joined the party in 1982, pleaded with federal female MPs to “step up”.
“Federal Liberal women need to band together and explain to the Prime Minister just how serious this has become because he is living in his own bubble,” Ms Cusack said.
“He appears to think this is just a political problem, but it is really a big moment in time and female Liberals need to tell him this is not the responsibility of women to solve this problem.
“I hear so many stories from federal Liberal women, but they are too scared to speak up but I say to them that it is time to give Scott Morrison the information he needs.”
Ms Cusack said the party had been heading on a downhill trajectory in terms of its treatment of women, but there had never been a worse time in the party’s history for Liberal women.
“Guys, this is your problem to solve,” Ms Cusack said.
She said the “toxic factions” were to blame for women being held back at the expense of men.
“Bullying is something that men do well, but the bullying within the party does not only drive women away, but also very capable men,” Ms Cusack said.
Alexandra Smith is the State Political Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2021-03-23 10:43:16Z
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