At a time when the percentage of women elected to the federal parliament is increasing, in the House of Representatives, the Liberal Party has had its worst result with women in 30 years – both in terms of the primary vote (around 30 per cent) and for parliamentary representation (21 per cent). Once again, proportionally fewer Liberal women were preselected (28 per cent); a higher percentage of incumbent Liberal female MPs lost their seats (48 per cent v 25 per cent for men); and eight out of 10 of elected Liberal members are men. Additionally, at the last election, 14 of the 18 (78 per cent) seats lost were won by women of other political colours.

So why is the issue of gender (specifically women) such an intractable problem for the Liberal Party? It has not always been this way. For its first 50-plus years, the Liberal Party was the party that championed female enfranchisement. It was also the party the majority of women voted for, that is until 2001, when the party started losing their votes. A trend that continues today.

The Liberal Party has long known it has a problem. In early 2016, after several reviews, the party quietly, so very quietly, adopted a 50 per cent gender target. A target that has been in place for the past three federal elections. The trouble is that it was adopted so quietly that it has not been implemented by a single state or territory division of the party. This can only be seen as three elections of lost opportunities.

Despite having a target, it is still impossible to have a meaningful conversation within the Liberal Party on gender. This is because nothing strikes greater terror in Liberal men and women than two little words – gender quotas. While Liberal Party members unquestioningly accept so many other forms of quotas – party quotas, factional quotas, state and territory quotas – gender quotas is simply not a topic for polite and “sound” Liberal conversations.

Once these dreaded two words dare to be spoken, discussion is shut down with a third little word – merit. Women must be selected on merit and women do not want to be referred to pejoratively as “a quota-woman”. All true… but, when has anyone ever heard any man say that he only wants to be preselected on merit? Chances are – never.

So, to address its gender problem, the Liberal Party must conquer its fear of discussing gender. An important question that needs to be answered is: How can women compete “on merit” when the concept itself is completely subjective as there is no objective selection criteria, and, in practice, is applied only to women? In short, they can’t, yet this is where the conversation on gender reform starts and finishes. Even now, some colleagues and conservative commentators, while acknowledging the problem, offer no solution – except for targets.

Every election the party leadership resolves to do better on merit, which never eventuates. Quotas are not new and in fact the Liberal Party was established with a gender quota. They have been used for decades in Australia, and in more than 100 other countries, to kickstart gender reforms. I have never been a fan of quotas, as by themselves they do not deliver the reforms needed to enable permanent change to stick, and then quotas risk becoming permanent. In light of the party’s worst result since 1993, I have raised the idea of temporary quotas to kickstart wider reform.

Political parties exist to win elections and govern. With the women’s primary vote around 30 per cent, the only way the Liberal Party can win enough seats to form majority government again is to win back the support of women. There are no shortcuts. We must listen carefully to women to really hear what they have been trying to tell us for a long time. It is only then we can re-engage on the issues of importance to them and demonstrate why our Liberal policies and our philosophies remain relevant.

The simple truth is that the Liberal Party can’t win again without the electoral support of more women. To regain their vote, the party must not only regain their trust, but our candidates and MPs must also look and sound much more like the diverse electorates they seek to represent.

The Liberal Party has nothing to lose by embracing gender reform. A great place to start would be the 2016 report. If we fail to implement meaningful change, the party will become permanent occupants of the opposition benches. The quiet approach has not worked. We have a small window to act. And we must.