Tony Abbott has declared the repeal of the carbon tax as his greatest achievement for women while in office.

A day after elevating a second woman to the federal cabinet, offering Sussan Ley the health ministry, Abbott was asked on Nine’s Today show to name his greatest contribution as the minister for women.

“Well, you know, it is very important to do the right thing by families and households,” Abbott said. “As many of us know, women are particularly focused on the household budget and the repeal of the carbon tax means a $550 a year benefit for the average family.”

The Greens leader, Christine Milne, said Abbott had been “a disaster” as minister for women.

Milne told reporters on Monday that while Abbott was spruiking the abolition of the carbon tax, his government had undermined services to women such as legal aid in domestic violence cases and homelessness support.

“He might as well have said that by abolishing the carbon price he’s been able to give women more money to buy a new iron and stay at home and do the ironing more often,” Milne said.

“Women in society is what it’s all about, not just women in the household. The fact of the matter is, he should have put a woman into that portfolio.

“It’s almost as if he’s in that portfolio to make sure there are no strides ahead for women in Australia.”

But the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, who until Sunday was the only woman in the cabinet, said Abbott’s comments were fair.

“Women’s policy is everyone’s policy. What’s good for women is good for the community generally. Getting rid of the carbon tax meant that household electricity bills have been reduced, it makes us more internationally competitive.”

The prime minister also talked up his “fair dinkum” paid parental leave scheme, changes in childcare and the promotion of three women in Sunday’s reshuffle.



Apart from Ley, Victorian MP Kelly O’Dwyer and Queensland MP Karen Andrews were made parliamentary secretaries to the treasurer and to the minister for industry and science respectively.

Asked later on Sunrise whether he was “embarrassed” about the level of female representation on his frontbench, Abbott defended his record.

“We have actually seven women on the frontbench,” he said. “We have got two cabinet ministers, two outer ministry ministers and three parliamentary secretaries, so look, there are women in the corridors of power.

“This will become more and more the case,” he said. “The challenge for all of us is to get more women into public life, more women into the parliament, once we have got more women in the parliament we will have more women in the ministry and more women in the cabinet.”

The Abbott government is the first since 1976 not to appoint a dedicated minister for the status of women or women’s affairs.