DHAKA: Australia’s new prime minister Tony Abbott unveiled his incoming Cabinet on Monday, attracting immediate criticism for including only one woman.

Conservative Liberal leader Abbott was elected by an overwhelming majority on September 7, and in his first press conference since victory over the incumbent Labor Party named a widely-expected line-up.

Julie Bishop, the incoming foreign minister, is the only woman in the 19-member Cabinet, although Abbott did promote several woman to the outer ministry.

‘I’m obviously disappointed that there aren’t more women in Cabinet,’ Abbott, who leads a Liberal/National coalition, told reporters in Canberra, according to The Straits Times.

BDST: 1558 HRS, SEPT 16, 2013
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