Gladys Berejiklian has stepped down from the NSW leadership. The front runner to replace her is Dominic Perrottet, a white male who is publicly anti-abortion, anti-diversity, anti-marriage equality - and who has referenced Trump and Folau positively in tweets.
Regardless of her faults, Gladys Berejiklian represented women, immigrants, and an upbringing without significant privilege. Her presence provided diversity in Australian leadership.
For safety and diversity - we want to be represented by someone other than a white, middle aged, privileged male who is openly religious and expresses views which may be harmful to women and minorities. We have a PM who has not represented or heard women, and the federal Liberal party has not been strong in this regard.
Dominic Perrottet is not representative of the diversity of the NSW population and his views on diversity and abortion are disturbing to many of us.
We ask - please assign leadership to someone with modern views on social justice issues, and with diversity of character and opinion. We want to feel safe and represented. Even though many of us did not agree with Gladys’s politics, we appreciated her as a female leader who had overcome adversity and who championed abortion rights.