Framing a Business Case for Equality: Women Under the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison Governments (2013–2022)

This chapter focuses on Australian government policy but also provides relevant international examples. It analyses the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison Coalition governments, arguing that their policy framework was more sympathetic to a neoliberal version of market-friendly gender equality than Howard’s Coalition government, despite continuing social conservative influences. Prime Minister Turnbull had more moderate Liberal views on social issues but was constrained by the influence of the right within the Liberal Party. Abbott and Morrison were religious social conservatives, albeit from a Catholic and Pentecostal background respectively. Abbott used US-influenced socially conservative arguments to oppose same-sex marriage and Morrison tried to mobilise US-style campaigns against gender ideology and transgender issues. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the gender-blind nature of the government’s market-driven policies. Meanwhile, feminist mobilisations around sexual scandals in parliament also contributed to Morrison’s defeat.