Libs’ Senate showdown

Rising star puts up hand for Upper House, setting scene for:

FORMER Tasmanian Young Liberals president Claire Chandler has set the scene for a Senate preselection battle by putting her hand up for a place on the Liberal ticket for the next election.

Her communication with party members comes just weeks after new Liberal Party federal president Nick Greiner made an impassioned plea for the party to preselect more women in winnable seats.

“I really think the time has come for us to stop talking about improving female representation, it’s actually time to improve the result,” Mr Greiner said.

Ms Chandler’s candidacy and Mr Greiner’s push sets up a potential preselection battle with sitting Senators Jonathon Duniam and Senate chief whip David Bushby.

Former tourism and international education minister Richard Colbeck has not ruled out standing again.

The party was criticised last year after it stood just one fe- male candidate in Franklin and no women in a winnable position on the Senate ticket.

In preselection before last year’s election, Senator Colbeck was shunted to the unwin- nable fifth spot on the ticket.

Apart from last year’s double dissolution election the Liberals have not won three Senate seats in Tasmania since 2004. The Liberals are in the process of choosing 65 preselectors for the Senate team.

Last year, Ms Chandler defended the preselection of the all-male ticket.

“Our ticket ... includes people who range in age, profession, background, interests and experiences — people who all happen to be men,” she said.

“I have heard it suggested that the Liberal Party should implement quotas. The reality of the situation is that the concept of quotas does not sit comfortably with liberal thinking and, as a woman, it cer- tainly does not sit comfortably with me,” she wrote in the Mercury.

Senator Eric Abetz yesterday described Ms Chandler as a “very high calibre young woman who has contributed a lot to the Liberal Party and her local community”.

“While these are rightly matters for the Liberal Party membership, the fact that people like Claire are willing to put themselves forward is only a positive thing and speaks to the wealth of talent we have in our ranks,” he said.