Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s honeymoon is well and truly over with yet another female politician expected to quit the Liberal Party.
New South Wales MP Ann Sudmalis reportedly advised Mr Morrison she will not re-contest her seat of Gilmore, which is held by a razor-thin margin.
She will quit at the next election, due by May, rather than force a by-election in her seat, which takes in large swathes of the state’s south coast, Nine News reported.
Liberal MP Ann Sudmalis (pictured), who has represented the NSW seat of Gilmore since 2013, has reportedly advised Prime Minister Scott Morrison she will not re-contest her seat at the next election
Ms Sudmalis has represented Gilmore since 2013, when the Coalition swept to power after six years in Opposition.
It is the Coalition’s fourth-most marginal seat, held by just 0.7 per cent.
Labor has selected former TAFE teacher and mother-of-four, Fiona Phillips, as its candidate in the seat.
Ms Sudmalis’ decision comes as her party is under fire for a lack of female representation, and amid claims female MPs were bullied during the brutal leadership spill.
Victorian Liberal MP Julia Banks announced late last month she would also not be recontesting her marginal Chisholm seat, saying the party’s leadership chaos was the final straw.
Several Liberal Party politicians have also spoken up against the gender imbalance within the party.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison (pictured) said on Friday while he wants to see more Liberal women in parliament, he also believes MPs should receive their positions based on merit
Some MPs, including frontbencher Sussan Ley, have called on the party to introduce quotas to boost the number of female Liberal representatives in parliament.
But Mr Morrison on Friday said while he wants to see more Liberal women in parliament, he also believes his MPs should receive their positions based on merit rather than gender representation quotas.
A day earlier, Dave Sharma was selected as the Liberal Party’s candidate in former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s seat of Wentworth, in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Mr Sharma won preselection ahead of three female candidates, including Mr Morrison’s first choice, Katherine O’Regan.
Woollahra councillor Mary-Lou Jarvis and rheumatologist Maxine Szramka were also in the running for the seat but fared poorly against the male candidates.