‘I’ll eat my hat’: Tanya Plibersek trashes Liberals’ stand on female representation

Deputy Labor leader says Liberals cannot use ‘merit’ argument, considering some of its ‘unimpressive blokes’

The Liberal party cannot fall back on the argument it preselects candidates on merit, given “some of the blokes” it counts among its parliamentary ranks, Tanya Plibersek has said.

Responding to frontbencher Sussan Ley’s push for the Liberal party to work towards a “sensible number” to improve its female representation and break ranks from the majority who remained opposed to quotas, Plibersek said it was beyond time this happened.

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How a flawed freedom-of-information regime keeps Australians in the dark

The refusal of FOI requests is at its highest level since records began and a Guardian Australia investigation has found systemic problems

The Australian government is refusing access to documents at record rates, aided by a flawed freedom of information regime beset by delays, understaffing and unnecessary obfuscation.

A month-long investigation into the operation of freedom of information (FOI) laws has identified systemic problems causing vast volumes of government information to be kept secret. Guardian Australia has found:

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