An opinion piece warning of the "threat" young single female voters pose to conservative parties' election chances has been labelled "incredibly condescending" and "out of touch".
The column published in The Australian on Sunday, , was penned by Nick Cater, an executive director of the Menzies Research Centre — a conservative think tank.
Mr Cater opined that the United States Democrats benefited from the votes of single women, who "arguably" kept them from losing control of the Senate to the Republican Party in .
He also wrote that hundreds of thousands more young single women could cast ballots in the May federal election, which was "good news" for Labor and the Greens.
But it was his characterisation of these voters that has raised some eyebrows.
He wrote that the "rise of single 20 and 30-somethings" amounted to a "disturbing trend" for the Liberal Party.
"Young women may be more ideologically drawn to the left than those older and wiser to the ways of the world, particularly those who had the dubious fortune of attending university," Mr Cater wrote.
Research from the US-based Pew Research Centre provided insight into the economic motivators that drove single women to vote Democrat, according to Mr Cater.
"Single women, particularly single mothers, have a vested interest in state intervention. A generation ago they could have expected a breadwinner to support them. Today, that breadwinner is the government to all intents and purposes, an ever-reliable partner with deep pockets to top up their meagre income," he wrote.
Georgie Dent is the executive director of advocacy group The Parenthood and was among those who criticised Mr Cater's opinion on social media. She told SBS News it was "incredibly condescending".
With women making up just over half of Australia's population, Ms Dent said it would be a "bold move" for a political party "to walk away from a significant demographic".
"It [the opinion piece] seemed to me further proof that certain sections of the federal Liberal Party are unwilling to confront the reality that women do vote and that women will vote in their own interests," she told SBS News.
Catherine Cusack, a former NSW Liberal Party MP , said she had "no words for how offensive this article is".
"I joined Young Liberals 1982 - 18 yrs, unmarried university student - was encouraged, pushed to succeed - so this backlash is a terrible reversal. My dad and his generation wanted their daughters to thrive on merit. So this attack upsets many dads, partners, friends..." Ms Cusack wrote on Twitter.
Charlotte Mortlock is a former journalist and founder of Hilma's Network — a campaign that aims to get more "liberal-minded" women into politics. In a tweet, she labelled Mr Cater's opinion as "appalling" and "out of touch".
In her own opinion piece , The Australian's youth title, Ms Mortlock wrote single young females were "the biggest opportunity for conservative parties" and that the Liberal Party would "never improve" unless more women joined,
"Young, single Australian women don't need husbands. They need, and deserve, legislation and political parties that talk to them, not about them," she wrote.
Ahead of this year's federal election in May, the Liberal Party faced questions over whether it had a women problem. Women deserting it for at the May federal election is widely believed to be part of the reason why the Liberal Party .
After Peter Dutton and Sussan Ley were elected as the Liberal Party's leader and deputy leader respectively in May, Ms Ley .
"We're listening. We're talking. And we are determined to earn back your trust and your faith," she said at the time.
SBS News has contacted the Menzies Research Centre for comment.
