3 Male Candidates Dropped as State Leader Intervenes to Secure Gender Parity for State Election

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet speaks to the media during a press conference at the State Emergency Operations Centre in Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 15, 2022. AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi

New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet has intervened to get three Liberal Party women into the state’s upper house by dropping three male MPs to guarantee equal numbers of both gender on the ticket for the state election in March 2023.

After what appears like a deal brokered between party factions on Dec. 22, sitting upper house MP, Families and Communities Minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones will lead the ticket with Liberal state executive member, lawyer Susan Carter, and former schoolteacher Jean Haynes, all three given winnable seats.