“I mentioned that we would engage with people, uphold our principles, refine our strategies, and work diligently for Australians… part of that effort involves honoring, mirroring, and advocating for contemporary Australia, which certainly includes women,” Ley stated.

“It’s a sobering fact that as I enter parliament on the first day, sitting opposite the prime minister, there will be only five Liberal women seated behind me, which serves as a strong motivator for change.”

She also denied the rumours of a divide in the party on the issue of quotas.

Figures like former prime minister Tony Abbott and Ley’s leadership rival Angus Taylor have spoken out, saying gender quotas were against the party’s core philosophy.

Ley said she was not sold on any specific way of getting women into elected positions, but she was determined to do it.

”I’m agnostic about how we get more women, but I’m an absolute zealot that we make it happen,” she said.

“The federated model of the Liberal Party means that state divisions determine their own pre-selection policies and how they go about this.

“I welcome it all about how we get there … we should be having that discussion, but I’m not seeing anyone disagree with the fact that we must get there.”

She said the men of the Liberal Party were “some of our strongest advocates” for getting more women into the party.

A Coalition policy at this year’s election that would have seen public servants forced back into the office was ditched after backlash that it would negatively impact mothers who worked from home.

Ley was elected as the new opposition leader following the loss, making history as the first female leader of the Liberal Party. 

”When I came into the parliament in 2001, more women in Australia voted Liberal than for any other party,” Ley said this morning.

“Now, that number has been declining ever since… we’ve got to arrest that decline.”