After Gwen Cherne was soundly defeated in the preselection for Scott Morrison’s safe seat of Cook last month, one aspiring female politician observed that the only way a professional woman with small-l liberal leanings could get into parliament was to become a teal.

The formidable former cabinet minister Karen Andrews agrees. “Fair comment,” she says. The only frontbencher with the guts to call on Morrison to quit parliament as soon as news broke of his secret ministries, Andrews adds it is unlikely any of the serving........

© The Sydney Morning Herald