Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is on track to have the smallest proportion of female MPs — fourteen per cent — in the House of Representatives in more than 20 years. Picture: AAP/Lukas Coch

Malcolm Turnbull is set to have half as many female MPs as Tony Abbott, the Liberal leader Julia Gillard accused of being a misogynist.

The Liberal Party which shuns quotas and believes women should be preselected only on merit is on track to have the smallest proportion of female MPs — fourteen per cent — in the House of Representatives in more than 20 years.

Even if Malcolm Turnbull holds all his government’s existing seats there will be two fewer female MPs after the election.

And, if as polls currently suggest, there is a 4.5 per cent swing against the government and the number of Coalition women MPs will be halved to just nine, down from 18 at present.

Malcolm Turnbull declared himself to be a feminist in an interview on SBS in 1988.

The Minister for women Michaelia Cash doesn’t believe in having female quotas. Picture: AAP/Glenn HuntSource:AAP

“I think I am, most people regard me as very much a feminist,” he said.

“A lot of men are very uncomfortable with women in equal positions in business and I’ve never had that problem at all,” he said.

However, in recent preselection contests under his leadership, former speaker Bronwyn Bishop, Victorian MP Sharman Stone and Queenslander Teresa Gambaro were all replaced by men.

A woman, Liz Storer, won preselection for the seat of Burt, but this was overturned and her replacement was male.

Even a female candidate from Liberal Party royalty, former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer’s daughter Georgina Downer, lost her bid for a seat in Victoria.

A further 10 retiring male Liberal and National MPs were replaced by men.

Only Nicolle Flint, the female candidate to replace Andrew Southcott in South Australia bucked the trend.

A further seven Liberal women are set to lose their marginal seats in the upcoming election with opinion polls suggesting a swing against the government of over 4.5 per cent.

To date the Liberal Party has preselected candidates for 125 seats ahead of the July 2 election and just 32 of these (25 per cent) are women.

Former Speaker of the House Bronwyn Bishop was replaced by a man. Picture: AAP/Sam MooySource:AAP

The Labor Party introduced quotas for women in 1994 and now aspires to have 50 per cent women by 2025 but at this election needs to get 40 per cent of women in winnable seats to reach its quota.

It is on track to have at least two extra female MPs after the election with a total of 32 female MPs expected on a uniform 4.5 per cent swing.

This is even though four of its female MPs are retiring and three of them were replaced by men.

The Labor Party has two women replacing male MPs and it is also likely to get three extra female candidates up as a result of electoral redistributions that will turn former Liberal seats into Labor Party seats.

If there is a uniform 4.5 per cent swing 11 new Labor women will be elected to the parliament.

The ALP has 60 female candidates standing at the election representing 43 per cent of all the 138 candidates chosen so far.

However, 24 of these women are standing in safe Liberal seats or seats where a swing of more than five per cent is required.

On a 4.5 per cent uniform swing, which delivers Labor 80 seats there would be around 32 Labor women elected which is 40 per cent of Labor MPs.

Former Liberal MP Sharman Stone who was replaced by a male candidate says the Liberal Party has to move to a quota system.

“We have got to have affirmative action and in my view that’s a quota or what the ALP does- give a weighted vote to women,” she told News Corp.

“We also need women to stand toe to toe with men in preselections so preselectors have a choice,” she said.

“I want preselections kept open until there is a 50 50 gender balance in candidates,” she says.

The Minister for women Michaelia Cash told the Liberal Party and the NSW National Party at their executive meetings “have agreed that we do need to set a target of 50 per cent female representation by 2025.”

However, she explained a complication was that the Liberal Party was decentralised and each state was autonomous.

“In terms of preselection, I believe that the best person on the day should get the job,” she said. “From a personal perspective I personally do what I can to mentor and support women in the Liberal party and actively encourage their promotion through the rank.”

Australian National University public policy professor Marian Sawer says Australia’s female representation in Parliament has slipped from 15th in the world to 42nd as other countries around the globe implement affirmative action quotas and targets.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Tanya Plibersek said Turnbull’s lack of female MPs is taking his party backwards. Picture: AAP/Mick TsikasSource:AAP

More than 100 countries have some kind of quota and the number of female MPs around the world has doubled in the past 20 years.

However, she says the Liberal Party’s female representation peaked in 1996 under John Howard and is going backwards.

“Its because they’ve drawn back from action on the grounds it would patronise women that nothing has happened,” she says.

“They don’t have a problem with quotas for women in their organisational wing but the party has a problem with setting firm targets for women in the parliamentary wing,” she said.

Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said “despite all his talk about equality for women, it looks like Malcolm Turnbull will take the Liberal Party backwards — it’s just another example of him saying one thing and doing another”.

“In contrast, I’m proud of the fact that particularly over the last twenty years or so, the number of Labor women elected to Parliament has increased dramatically,” she said.