Nationals boost female numbers in Canberra

The Nationals are on track to triple the number of women in the party's federal party room to six following the federal election.

BUDGET19 SCOTT MORRISON

Nationals' deputy Bridget McKenzie has welcomed a boost to the party's female ranks. (AAP)

A record number of women will sit in the Nationals' party room, with the junior coalition partner expected to triple its female representation to six.

Boasting a woeful two of 22 federal parliamentarians before the election, the Nationals are set to make some overdue progress on getting more women to Canberra.

Anne Webster has replaced Andrew Broad in Mallee after he retired when caught out texting a woman from a "sugar daddy" website.

In the Senate, Katharine vet Sam McMahon fills the Northern Territory spot vacated by former indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion.

Queensland businesswoman Susan McDonald will join her in the upper house.

In NSW, water policy officer Perin Davey is on track to win a Senate seat, bringing the tally to six females out of 21 federal Nationals.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack's pre-election prediction of a different looking party room has turned out to be true.

"I've done everything I can do to make sure women know that the National Party is a female-friendly party in all the right ways," he told AAP during the campaign.

Mr McCormack's deputy Bridget McKenzie has welcomed a boost to the party's female ranks.

Gender isn't the only stereotype the new-look Nationals are shedding.

While many have family connections to the land, only two MPs - Keith Pitt and Mark Coulton - list farming as a previous occupation in their parliamentary biographies.

There's double the amount of former journalists, a cohort including Mr McCormack.


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Source: AAP


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