Innovation Minister Michaelia Cash is the latest MP promising to donate to a new fighting fund set up to get more Liberal women into parliament.
Victorian Liberal Kelly O'Dwyer, who is Minister for Women, has set up the Dame Enid Lyons Fund with a $50,000 donation from her federal electorate conference.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will give another $50,000, while Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also plans to donate.
Asked if she would also contribute, Senator Cash said, "the answer to that is yes, but after discussions with my own state body, which is always appropriate".
The donations come after assistant minister Jane Prentice on Saturday lost a pre-selection battle against her former staff member Julian Simmonds, sparking a debate about the number of women in the Liberals.
Ms O'Dwyer said the fund would support Liberal women in marginal seats, or women standing in winnable seats, to make sure they have financial support behind their campaigns.
Liberal senator Eric Abetz has conceded the number of women his party has in parliament is "somewhat less than ideal" but is not sold on the new fund.
"I'm not sure that those sort of separate funds are necessarily consistent with the Liberal philosophy," he told ABC radio.
"At the end of the day, we want the best possible person in a seat and then in the parliament to do the very best for the Australian nation, and whether that's a man or a woman, from my perspective is irrelevant."
Senator Abetz believes the Liberals can do more to promote and endorse women without relying on quotas or fighting funds.
Share
