On Background: The Liberal Party's women problem

The Liberal Party this week preselected its candidate for the safe seat of Cook – vacated by former Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Simon Kennedy is a management consultant. He doesn’t currently live in Cook and ran unsuccessfully for the party in another seat at the last election. Still – he won a thumping majority when branch members voted on Monday night. Gwen Cherne – the only woman in the race ran a distant third – despite living on the border of the electorate, despite an impressive international CV and despite an endorsement from John Howard. So what happened? And is the Liberal Party doing enough to address the problems identified in its own review after the last election – when women turned against the Morrison Government?

David Speers talks to Charlotte Mortlock, founder of Hilma’s Network – which is trying to boost the number of women in the Coalition’s parliamentary ranks – to find out why more women aren’t being preselected in the Liberal Party.

Insiders: On Background digs a little deeper into an issue that will be covered on the show each week with an expert to better understand the debates dominating politics.