Voters will reject Liberals if they don’t have enough female candidates, Matt Kean says

NSW Treasurer Matt Kean says voters have sent a strong message about diversity and the Liberal party needs to change its preselection process to reflect that. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

The New South Wales treasurer, Matt Kean, has savaged his own party’s preselection processes and membership, warning the Liberals risk losing voters at the March election if they fail to put up enough female candidates.

Kean, the party’s deputy leader, said he had been “devastated” that the state’s most senior Liberal woman, Natalie Ward, was not preselected in the ultra-safe seat of Davidson and had been beaten by a former staffer, despite having the premier’s support.