The target is one of 10 recommendations made by the taskforce in the wake of the Liberals’ state election loss and will form part of what the party describes as a new “multi-year strategy” to attract more women to politics.

Other recommendations made by the taskforce include adopting a target for 50 per cent female representation within the Liberals’ state parliamentary ranks, establishing a “targeted membership drive” for women, and “investigating opportunities” to host events in a family-friendly format.

The taskforce comprised of 12 party members and sitting MPs and was established in July following the resignation of former Attorney-General Vickie Chapman and subsequent election of replacement Bragg MP Jack Batty, leaving just two Liberal women in the House of Assembly.

The Liberal Party last month voted to replace retired MLC and former Health Minister Stephen Wade with another man in the Legislative Council – Ben Hood, despite party leader David Speirs expressing his desire for a woman to fill the role.

Speirs received the recommendations from the taskforce yesterday evening.

He said an “implementation group” would be established within the party to ensure all the recommendations were adopted.

“I certainly see myself having a key role in making sure these recommendations are taken on board, analysed and implemented over the coming weeks, months and years,” he said.

“I’m pretty confident that we will get to the 50 per cent target for 2026 and see many more women elected to the state’s parliament under the banner of the Liberal Party.

“I am very conscious that as a man leading the party, this is something I need to certainly provide leadership around, but equally work exceptionally closely with the many women in the party who are passionate about our party doing better.”

The 10 recommendations include:

• Adopting a target to preselect 50 per cent female candidates for the 2026 state election.
• Adopting a target of 50 per cent female representation within our state parliamentary ranks within three terms.
• Introducing a “parliamentary pathways program” for women, to be provided in partnership with an external provider. The program would be tailored to each applicant to provide training, upskilling and professional development opportunities, along with a structured mentoring program.
• Investigating a range of incentive strategies to help attract future female candidates.
• Investigating opportunities to host events which are in a family-friendly format, such as hosting events at a suitable time and providing childcare
• Working with organisations which seek to support women within the Liberal Party to establish professional networking bodies for women which are complementary to existing electorate branch activities.
• Providing consistency regarding governance within the pre-selection process to ensure a level playing field for candidates.
• Re-evaluating support structures which are provided for candidates, both during and after election.
• Introducing a targeted membership drive for women.
• Establishing a working group to drive delivery of these recommendations

InDaily reported in December that Speirs had granted the taskforce an extension to hand down its recommendations, with the taskforce’s chairperson, MLC Nicola Centofanti, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic and River Murray floods for the delay.

Centofanti this morning said the taskforce wanted to make sure that its recommendations provided “meaningful and long-lasting change”, describing the goal to preselect 50 per cent women candidates ahead of the 2026 state election as “ambitious”.

She said the taskforce received over 50 submissions, with the question of whether to introduce quotas being a key talking point.

“One of the things that really came home heavily was that people didn’t want to see quotas – particularly the women – they  feel that they didn’t want to be picked just solely based on being a woman,” she said.

“They wanted to be there because they were the ones to do the best job. They wanted to be picked on merit.

“They felt that quotas was a really blunt instrument, a really short-term bandaid and they wanted to see some more long-term, meaningful changes to really support women into the party – not just today but into the future.”

The Labor Party has had some level of quotas for women in place since the 1990s. There are now more Labor women MPs than men.

Centofanti said in the upper house, over 60 per cent of Liberal MLCs are women.

“We do far better than the Labor Party in the Legislative Council when it comes to women representation and so I think that we really need to make sure that… we are a grassroots party,” she said.

“Our members respond well to targets and that’s what we’ve decided to go via as a taskforce.”

Chelsey Potter, a former Liberal staffer who considered running as an independent at the Bragg by-election to ensure female representation, was part of the taskforce, as were sitting state MPs Michelle Lensink, Laura Henderson, Penny Pratt and Jing Lee, alongside federal senator Kerrynne Liddle.

Former Liberal politicians Isobel Redmond, Trish Worth, Carolyn Power and Caroline Schaefer were also members.

Minister for Women Katrine Hildyard said the Liberals’ goal to preselect 50 per cent women candidates for the 2026 state election seemed “unlikely” without quotas.

“There are roughly equal numbers of meritorious women and men. If your parliamentary ranks do not reflect this, it is clear that something is not working, and really decisive action must be taken,” she said.

“Accepting that it will take three election cycles before we potentially see an equal number of men and women MPs in the Liberal Party seems to speak to a lack of determination to advance toward gender equality.”