Women rule out token vote

A recommendation was put up for debate by the Women's Council which called on the party to mandate for women to take up positions on the central council.

Members, both male and female, queued up behind the microphones to have their say on the debate, which was lost in a painfully close vote.

A representative of the Women's Council said the fact not one female stood for pre-selection at the last federal election was "embarrassing."

A female Macleay Valley branch member said she believed a party that started to divide was "in for trouble."

"Women are equal to men and if they're good enough, they will be elected.

"I've had positions and I would hate to think people would say behind my back that they put me in because I was a woman."

Another female party member echoed the sentiment by describing the motion as "very maternalistic."

"This really says women are second class citizens and we better give them a little pat on the back and a chance to get in."

Senator Fiona Nash disagreed and supported the Women's Council's move.

"There's a great phrase that doing the same thing again and again and getting the same result is stupidity," she said.

"I'm just saying - let's try something different."

Her State colleagues supported her.

"We need this for young women thinking about joining the party," Primary industries minister Katrina Hodgkinson said.

"It was not a good look at the last election when we had no female candidates."

Fiona Leviny from Page Central Council said she agreed with the sentiment but she wanted to remind everybody, the party wanted meritocracy "not tokenism."