Gender

Australia ranks at 50th in the Inter-Parliamentary Unions’s monthly ranking of Women in National Parliaments. With women holding 31.1% of House of Representative and 51.3% of Senate seats Australia is still not living up to its ongoing transformative leadership potential as the first nation to grant women full suffrage.

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) has made steady progress in women’s representation since the 1994 introduction of a 35% quota of women pre-selected in ‘winnable seats’. The party has been continuously represented by women members since 1974. In the Senate the ALP has been represented by majority women since 2013 (2021: 62%) , but in the House of Representatives the party still suffers from ‘marginal seat syndrome’ in which women are disproportionately pre-selected to marginal seats (52% ALP women hold marginal seats; 23% ALP men hold marginal seats). This affects the longevity and efficacy of members’ careers in parliament, presenting additional barriers to promotion for women relative to men holding majority safe seats. The effect of the quota, either through direct impact or the resulting cultural change, is evidenced in the proportional over-correction of women being pre-selected to winnable seats in the past two House of Representatives (55% ALP MPs elected to the HoR in 2016 or 2019 were women) and Senate (59% ALP Senators elected in 2016 or 2019 were women) cycles.

The number of women representing the Liberal Party (LPA) has plateaued since 1996. The party has been continuously represented by women members since 1943, but despite its relative early success in pre-selecting, electing and promoting women the Liberal Party has been mired in internal philosophical debates about the place of women in political life that have resolved in favour of the status quo. Quotas are rejected in favour of meritocracy and cultural change; however, this cultural change is not evident in the data. The Liberal Party has continued to disproportionately pre-select men, save for in the 2010 Senate Election in which 60% of elected LPA Senators were women, but the gap in the House of Representatives has closed from over 80% prior to 2013 to just under 70% (68%). Similarly to the ALP, the Liberal Party disproportionately pre-selects women in marginal seats (54% of LPA women hold marginal seats; 31% LPA men hold marginal seats; however, women are more likely than men to hold safe seats (46% LPA women hold safe seats; 42% LPA men hold safe seats).

The Liberal Party’s junior coalition partner, the National Party (NPA), has historically been the least gender representative major or minor party in the Australian Parliament; however, recent Senate elections have begun to correct this imbalance. Since the 2019 Election 75% of National Party Senators are women. This trend is not reflected in the House of Representatives in which only two women represent the National Party (12.5%), although both women hold safe seats.

The trend in women’s representation has been favourable for independent candidates since 2010. In 2021, women independents hold 60% of House of Representatives seats held by Independents (including Centre Alliance) and 33% of cross-bench Senate seats. This could be indicative of broader cultural change among the Australian electorate.

nb. Non-binary Australians are not represented in this data.

LGBTQ+

The Australian LGBTQ+ community (3%) is proportionally represented in the Parliament of Australia (3.5%), including in the composition of both major parties (ALP: 3.19% & LPA: 4.35%) and across both binary genders (women: 4.65% & men: 2.84%). The LGBTQ+ community is proportionally overrepresented by Greens women (16.67%).

First Nations Australians

First Nations Australians (3%) are proportionally represented in the Parliament of Australia (2.64%), including in the composition of both major parties (ALP: 3.19% & LPA: 1.09%) and across both binary genders (1.42% men; 4.65% women) and are proportionately overrepresented by Greens women (16.67%).

Faith

Australian Christians (52%) are proportionally underrepresented (31%) according to this data; however, it is likely that personal faith is publicly under-reported and the real number of Christian parliamentarians is higher.

Islamic Australians (2%) are proportionally represented by the ALP (2% ALP women; 2% ALP men) and proportionally overrepresented by Greens women (16.67%).

Jewish Australians (1%) are proportionally overrepresented by ALP men (6%) and Liberal Party men (3%).

Of the major religions in Australia, neither Buddhist nor Hindu Australians are represented by a member of their faith in the Parliament of Australia.

Place of Birth

Migrant Australians (30% born overseas) are proportionally underrepresented (10.47%) by every party/ gender bracket except among Greens men (75%).

Australians Living with a Disability

While 18% of the Australian population lives with a disability, only 2 MPs (0.88%) have public record of living with a disability. This number is likely to be under-reported by both politicians and the general public, but the gap between the population and parliamentarians is too extreme to have been affected by this alone.

Highest Level of Education

Australians with tertiary or higher degrees (22%) are proportionally overrepresented by members of parliament with the same level of qualification (78.85% MPs). This is true across both major parties and binary genders (ALP: 82% women; 80% men & LPA: 92% women; 79% men). Women are more likely to have a tertiary qualification than men (85% women; 75% men).

Australians with technical or trade qualifications (25%), Australians with secondary qualifications (30%), and Australians with no qualification (23%) are proportionally underrepresented by members of parliament.