The Tasmanian Liberal Party's Senate selection process has been criticised by Hobart's Lord Mayor, who said she considered putting herself forward for the ticket this year but was told not to.

Key points: Hickey said she was discouraged from running

Hickey said she was discouraged from running Liberal women's group said it 'was not her turn' Ms Hickey said

Liberal women's group said it 'was not her turn' Ms Hickey said Abetz said selection made on merit

Tony Abbott loyalist and powerbroker Eric Abetz has the number one spot, while Australia's Tourism Minister, Richard Colbeck, was relegated to fifth.

The other four of the six candidates are also men.

Lord Mayor Sue Hickey nominated in 2012 but was not selected.

She said she received calls from two sitting senators, asking her why she put her hand up.

"One said, 'People like you don't get elected because we believe you're popular and you could be elected in some other platform'," Alderman Hickey said.

"The other one told me that it was a system of reward. I just think it shows how out of touch the Liberal Party is on matters like this.

"You can't tell me that there aren't very highly qualified females that could have put their hand up."

Selection process stupid: Hickey

Ald. Hickey said she found the selection process was outdated and she was extremely embarrassed about it as a Liberal Party member.

"There's this stupid system where they only have 64 people who represent the whole electorate so you have to go around and see all of them," she said.

"What disappointed me with that was many of them were very elderly and long-term, loyal Liberals but their questions were all about things like gay marriage, abortion and dying with dignity.

"I did not get one question on the economy, on jobs, on the future of Tasmania. I found that extremely disappointing."

Selections based on merit, says Abetz

But Senator Abetz insisted senators were selected on the basis of merit, not gender.

"No senate ticket will ever be perfect and what you've got to look at is all the qualities of the candidates," he said.

"In my ideal world, yes of course, there would be a woman on the ticket."

He said the ticket represented a blend of experience and renewal.

Senator Colbeck is in China on a trade mission and said in a statement "we need to move on'".

He said his focus continued to be ensuring the strongest representation for Tasmania in federal Parliament.