![Michaelia Cash, one of Malcolm Turnbull's star ministers, is facing a push to have her dropped to fifth on the WA Senate ticket. Photo: Andrew Meares Michaelia Cash, one of Malcolm Turnbull's star ministers, is facing a push to have her dropped to fifth on the WA Senate ticket. Photo: Andrew Meares](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/a99cdbaf-f6a9-4e57-a67d-70007b8448c9.jpg/r0_0_727_410_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
One of Malcolm Turnbull's star ministers, the Minister for Employment and Women Michaelia Cash, is facing a push to have her dropped to the fifth spot on the West Australian Senate ticket which will be decided on Saturday.
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And the only other female West Australian Senator Linda Reynolds is similarly facing being demoted to the number six position, mimicking the Queensland Liberal National Party's decision to place the only woman Senator, Joanna Lindgren, in the last and possibly unwinnable spot on that state's lineup.
The Liberal Senate partyroom is made up of 25 senators, just six of whom are women, in contrast with the 14 women who comprise the 24 member Labor senate caucus.
But sources expressed hope the Prime Minister's decree that Senate preselections had to be determined by seniority, issued after junior minister Richard Colbeck's shock demotion on the Tasmanian Senate ticket, would be observed by party members on the weekend.
The internal disputes in the Senate preselections are being caused because of the double dissolution. Normally the Senators are split into "sides," usually with three to four candidates on each. In WA the Senate sides are currently – 1. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, 2. Dean Smith 3. Chris Back and on the other side dumped minister David Johnston at 1, Michaelia Cash at 2 and Linda Reynolds in 3.
But because all Senate spots are thrown open in a double dissolution, the parties have to combine both sides of the ticket, throwing the order into chaos.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is expected to head the WA senate ticket, but who will follow is still to be determined.
A party source told Fairfax Media the selection committee will recommend to Saturday's State Council that Senator Cash be listed second, followed by Senator Dean Smith. This would leave senators Reynolds, Johnston and Back to fight out the remaining positions.
But there is also a rogue push to have Senator Smith put in second, followed by Senator Back, Senator Johnston and then Senator Cash and Reynolds. One source said the reasons dated back to internal party politics relating to Senator Cash's father, the former West Australian MP George Cash. Other sources said regional members supporting Senator Back, who fears ending up last in the line-up, were behind the drive.
On Friday Senator Smith, who has only sought to be placed third and after the two Cabinet Ministers, sent an email to State Council party members who will decide on the final order re-requesting they install Senator Cash above him.
"I am now seeking your support to be actively considered for the number 3 spot on the WA Liberal Senate Ticket," Senator Smith said in the email.
Several sources expressed fears that Senator Reynolds, a newcomer to Parliament but widely seen as a star performer and future minister, was being sidelined because of her push to have the Liberal Party adopt a target for 50-50 female-male representation.
No female minister has spoken out in support of Senator Lindgren, who has Indigenous heritage, since her shock demotion to the number six spot in Queensland. She is behind veteran MP Ian Macdonald,who was a frequent internal critic of the Abbott government. Mr Turnbull appeared at a media conference with Senator Lindgren and Minister Cash on April 27 where he said: "Right across the board, diversity is important and gender, respect for women, equal opportunity for women is vitally important."
"Women may hold up half the sky but all of the senatorial sky today is held up by women," Mr Turnbull observed, without making mention of Senator Lindgren's demotion to the bottom of the Senate ticket.
In recent months, the Liberal Party has preselected half a dozen male candidates, including three to replace former women MPs.
@latikambourke I like this one showing all the women they are replacing pic.twitter.com/Lddzhui3Iw— ainsindahouse (@ainsindahouse) May 2, 2016
Queensland Labor MP Terri Butler told Fairfax Media the Liberal Party had an "abysmal record" when it came to preselecting and promoting women.
"They're stuck in the 1950s," she said.
"The preselections we've seen over the last few weeks have shown they just don't get it. It's literally jobs for the boys," she said.
"Malcolm Turnbull talks big on increasing the number of women in his party - but just like so many other things, he says one thing and does another."
In Victoria the line-up will be determined in line with the Coalition agreement and ranked by seniority with Cabinet Minister Mitch Fifield in number 1, Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie at 2, Minister Scott Ryan at 3 and newcomer James Paterson, who recently won the number one spot for his side of the Senate ticket, at 4.
There is also a dispute in New South Wales between newcomer Hollie Hughes, who has already given up her number 1 spot for Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, and Nationals Senator John Williams for fifth spot.
In New South Wales the order is Defence Minister Marise Payne, Nationals Senator Fiona Nash, Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos and Senator Fierravanti-Wells. In South Australia the order is 1. Simon Birmingham, 2. Cory Bernardi, 3. Anne Ruston, 4. David Fawcett and 5. Sean Edwards.