Charlotte Mortlock, founder of Hilma’s Network and former Sky News political reporter, has made headlines for openly supporting quotas in the Liberal Party. But, speaking at the Women In Media conference live in Sydney today, she admitted it was never her preferred starting point.
“Nobody wants quotas. Nobody wants DEI. We all wish that this would happen organically, but when it’s not, at what point do you say, okay, this is no longer working?” she asked.
Mortlock said she tried to campaign quietly for change in the previous parliamentary term but was ignored. “If you’ve done it quietly and the institution hasn’t amended things, then what choice are you left with?” she asked the crowd.
For Mortlock, the failure of organic change is compounded by the fact that inequality is actually worsening.
She pointed to the US, where Donald Trump’s rise coincided with an increase in votes for him from people of colour, a reflection, she argued, that DE&I language had not translated into material improvement in people’s lives.
“I think people resent the language as a way to seed the land without doing real change,” she said. That frustration, she added, is fuelling an anti-establishment wave globally, from Reform UK’s Nigel Farage to minor party surges in Australia.
Federal minister for finance, women, the public service and government services, Senator Katy Gallagher, offered a contrasting perspective from Labor’s own quota journey. She reminded the audience that Labor’s affirmative action policy, introduced in 1994, was “fiercely resisted” and only came about because women recognised they were being preselected in unwinnable seats.
From just 14 per cent female representation in 1994, Labor’s caucus is now 56 per cent women, with a gender-equal cabinet.
But Gallagher stressed that progress is fragile. “You can make gains, but you cannot take your eye off the ball, because those gains can be taken away just as quickly as you reach them.”
She noted that backlash isn’t limited to the past, with some male colleagues now pointing out the gender balance has tipped. “Now the men are starting to go, hang on a minute. You said 40 per cent, then they said 50 per cent, and now you’re at 56. And it’s like, yeah, yeah, we are.”
Gallagher’s observation about backlash in the present day echoed Mortlock’s own concerns about a more dangerous, emerging resentment among young men.
“When you are accustomed to privilege, equality can feel like oppression,” she said. “We cannot demonise young men, because when young men go off the rails, it impacts women. It is in our interest to have really healthy, flourishing, well-rounded men.”
Of course, as moderator Tanya Hosch pointed out, diversity needs strong, foundational change rather than token gestures. “When you’re building a house you don’t start with the roof,” she explained.
As she put it more bluntly, “there is nothing diverse about having a vagina.” Her point underscored that even gender parity numbers can be misleading without diversity across race, ability, and background.
Her comments reinforced the need to consider intersectionality, not just increasing the number of women in leadership, but ensuring representation spans First Nations people, people of colour, people with disability, and other underrepresented groups.
Across the panel, there was little dispute that quotas remain unpopular, but equally, there was acknowledgment that without structural mechanisms, change rarely happens.
Mortlock’s provocation summed up the room’s challenge. The answer, it seemed, was not to abandon quotas, but to ensure they are backed by cultural change, intersectional thinking, and vigilance, because while we have come so far, progress, as the panel reminded everyone, can be undone just as quickly as it’s won.
