Prime Minister's solutions to fix issues inside Parliament House
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he wants to find ways to help more women enter politics in light of disturbing allegations about how women have been treated in Parliament.
"I'm not opposed to quotas, I just want something that's going to work better than it's working now," Mr Morrison told A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw in a face-to-face interview.
But his solution to fixing the problem in Canberra raises the question: Why would women want to work there?
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he wants to find ways to help more women enter politics in light of disturbing allegations about how women have been treated in Parliament. Getty
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It's a question Grimshaw put to him after he claimed he was doing everything he could to fix the Liberal Party's "woman problem".
"We're starting to deal with some real home truths," he said.
"Perhaps you'd be better off starting to actively discriminate against Neanderthal men, like the so called 'big swinging dicks club' that Julie Bishop says stood in her way," Grimshaw replied, referring to the self-named group of men who tried to stymie her career.
A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw spoke to Prime Minister Scott Morrison in an exclusive interview. A Current Affair
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"If you clear out the dinosaurs then maybe more women would want to be here?"
Mr Morrison agreed the mentioned behaviour was appalling.
"At the end of the day, if we're not getting more women in this Parliament then we've got to be doing something different than we're doing now."
Julie Bishop. Nine
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When asked why had only become aware of some of these issues in the past month, Mr Morrison said he was "doing everything I can to understand it as best as I can".
"It's been like a wakeup call, it's been like a red light to say stop, look, listen. And that's what we're doing."
In regards to Brittany Higgins' allegations of sexual assault inside Parliament, Mr Morrison said he was shocked to learn "this could take place here to a young woman who'd worked so hard in this place and with such talent".
Ex-Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, who has alleged she was raped by a male colleague, declared the "system is broken" as she spoke to the March 4 Justice crowd in Canberra. Dominic Lorrimer
He added: "It wouldn't matter whether they had talent or not, it could've happened to any woman.
"We look at these things and go 'how could these acts of violence take place?'"
Mr Morrison reiterated that a suggestion to stamp out the range of toxic behaviour towards women in Parliament was to have women replacing men in their electorates once they retired.
"I would love to see a woman follow me as the Member for Cook when I choose to retire from politics," he said.
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