Cross-Party Collaboration and Women Politicians in the Australian Federal Parliament

Abstract

The Australian federal parliament has been host to a rare but fascinating phenomenon of ‘cross-party collaboration’ (CPC) in which politicians work together across party lines, often by co-sponsoring a bill or voting together in a conscience vote. In this paper I will define CPC and outline the different ways it has been used by politicians. CPC in the Australian context is a relatively gendered practice as mainly women politicians have used it to advance issues including euthanasia and abortion. The use of collaborative activities was particularly high between 1996 and 2006 and I therefore take examples of CPC from this time period. I argue that the persistent androcentrism of parliament has contributed to the use of CPC by women politicians. The higher numbers of men in parliament, strict party control, and adversarial style of parliament have impeded the representation of certain issues, usually those associated with women's reproductive rights. By using CPC, women politicians have demonstrated that there are certain issues they are prepared to act on, even if it means collaborating with ideological adversaries. The use of CPC suggests that women politicians can be unconventional and non-adversarial in their legislative behaviour and are more willing to represent issues in a different manner to traditional political means.