Andrew Bragg, the former acting Liberal Party director, and the man who had been favourite to win Liberal Party preselection for former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's seat of Wentworth, has pulled out of the race and called for a female candidate to be chosen.
"I am stepping aside from the Wentworth preselection," the former Business Council of Australia director said in a post on Facebook. "I believe the Liberal Party should preselect a woman and my withdrawal can pave the way."
Bragg had Turnbull's support in the preselection battle, in a pack of nine candidates, including three women. Former diplomat Dave Sharma was also a favourite, and Peter King, the man Turnbull ousted from the seat in a bitter preselection battle before the 2004 election, also put his hat in the ring.
Turnbull resigned from parliament after the last sitting fortnight's leadership spill that resulted in Scott Morrison becoming Australia's 30th prime minister.
The party is still going through public recriminations over the alleged bullying by, and of, MPs to support Peter Dutton in the leadership ballot. In particular, a number of female MPs have spoken out about how they have been treated by those in their own party.
The Liberal MP for Chisholm, Julia Banks, announced last month she would retire at the next election, and blamed bullying during the leadership ballot process as her reason for quitting. Liberal senator Lucy Gichuhi has threatened to use parliamentary privilege in the Senate this week to name the politicians who threatened her.
Bragg said that Banks' allegations had "genuinely shocked" him: "Julia Banks’ exit from public life is a loss for all of us. Julia is exactly the type of professional woman that the Liberal Party must be able to attract and keep in Parliament. Her loss is an enormous step in the wrong direction."
Former foreign minister Julie Bishop last week told an Australian Women's Weekly Women of the Future event in Sydney that there had been "appalling behaviour" in the parliament during that sitting fortnight, which would not be tolerated in any other workplace.
Bishop highlighted that fewer than 25% of the Liberal MPs in parliament are female, in large part influencing Australia's ranking of female parliamentary representation dropping from 15th in 1999 to 50th today.
Bragg said that the comments from Bishop and the other female MPs "have changed the mood" in the electorate.
There are 226 MPs in parliament, 72 of those MPs are women. Just 20 of those women are Liberal MPs.