Labor says Liberals silencing female MPs

The Rudd government has criticised the opposition over its treatment of women,
saying it doesn't allow them to ask or answer enough questions in parliament.
The opposition came under fire after it was revealed its women members had asked
just 8.4 per cent of questions in the lower house this year, despite comprising 20
per cent of Liberal and National MPs.
Deputy leader Julie Bishop has asked just 4.7 per cent of coalition questions,
compared with the leader, Malcolm Turnbull, who's asked 30 per cent.
Labor's Status of Women Minister Tanya Plibersek used question time on Tuesday to
argue the Liberal Party's commitment to being inclusive was a joke.
The section of the party's website called "Women and the Liberal Party" hadn't been
updated since the 2007 election loss and included a photo of four men and only one
woman, she said.
"While Australians have changed their attitudes and their behaviours over time, it
is a little disappointing to see that the opposition in many respects have not."
In a tactical blunder, the opposition then tried to gag Ms Plibersek from speaking
further.
Labor used its numbers to defeat the move, however the damage was already done.
"We saw today in the Sydney Morning Herald that they (the coalition) do not let
women ask questions," Ms Plibersek said.
"It seems now we are not allowed to answer them either."
Later, Ms Bishop tried to strike back but came a cropper.
She said former Labor prime minister Paul Keating was opposed to women working.
The problem was she was quoting from Mr Keating's maiden speech in 1970.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard pounced.
"Mr Keating has moved on and has made public statements to that effect," she told
parliament.
"The nation has moved on. Policy has moved on. The only people who ... are not
understanding that things have moved on are the Liberal Party."
Ms Gillard said she initially thought it was "pretty bad" that coalition women
weren't getting their fair share of questions.
"However, having seen this performance from the deputy leader of the opposition,
maybe the deputy leader is better off without questions," she quipped.
But Liberal veteran Wilson Tuckey says the poor percentages don't reflect what goes
on in the Liberal party room.
He dismissed them by saying opposition spokespeople with responsibility for the
issues at hand were generally the ones that asked the questions.
Things might be different if the opposition education spokesman was a woman given
the coalition's heated inquisition of the government's education reform policies, Mr
Tuckey said.
Colleague Stuart Robert also returned fire, saying that at least coalition MPs were
allowed to script their own questions.
The Australian Greens sided with Labor, saying it was clear the opposition lagged
behind the government regarding female representation.
Christine Milne labelled Ms Bishop a "token female".
"Many people see Julie Bishop as tokenism in that role compared with the real role
that (Deputy Prime Minister) Julia Gillard has got," Senator Milne told reporters.