Good morning. The new parliament is about to kick off. Amid the California wildfires, Al Gore is warning “the survival of our civilisation is at stake”. And Jonas Vingegaard has won the Tour de France.
When federal parliament resumes this week, it will be the most diverse in Australia’s history. But it still comes nowhere close to reflecting the population it represents. The biggest gains have been made in the proportion of female representatives, now making up 38% of the House of Representatives and 57% of the Senate – a record for both chambers. There will be 58 women taking their seats in the lower chamber, including 19 new female MPs. Six of those first-term female MPs are Labor members, bringing their House representation to 35, while the Liberal party lost four women, meaning just nine women will fill their benches. But in a nation where women hold the slim majority over men in terms of the population, the house still has some work to do to catch up.
