Alan Jones gave Tony Abbott a to-do list. This is mine

Radio broadcaster Alan Jones has given the Prime Minister Tony Abbott a long and detailed to-do list.

Some have derided it as terribly entitled and an abuse of power, which perhaps it is.

But given how hard it appears to be for the PM to compose a consistent to-do list of his own, I’m not convinced it’s entirely ungenerous or unnecessary.

In fact, it inspired me to compile my own to-do list for Mr Abbott. Why should Alan have all the fun? Consider it my civic duty. 

So after the Easter break here is a short and sharp list for our PM:

1. Appoint a new minister for women. You have had almost 18 months in the role and it’s clear it is not a portfolio you are particularly interested in or inclined to take seriously. Give it to someone who is. Perhaps give some thought to whether the portfolio is consuming you to the extent that an assistant minister is really required. From the outside it certainly doesn’t seem that way. Perhaps Michaelia Cash ought to be given actual authority in the area in which she is frequently dispatched. 
2. Declare domestic violence a national disaster. 28 women have been killed this year. Domestic violence is a very real terror in the lives of far too many women and children. Leadership, action and resources are required. There is no shortage of expertise in Australia to call upon to stem this problem but it seems the will to fix it is absent. Change it.     
3. Reshuffle your cabinet. Take a moment to consider whether perhaps your initial assessment of “merit” wasn’t entirely objective. The leadership team you have assembled is incredibly homogenous. Could it be that your view was clouded? That you perhaps mistook merit to mean “middle-aged men from privileged backgrounds”? Your cabinet indicates you appear to favour individuals of a certain age, of a certain gender from a certain background. Is this really merit?
4. Conduct some performance reviews. This is related to point 3. Even if you determine your initial assessment of merit was entirely objective, can you really rely on the performance of all of your ministers to justify their continued occupation of the senior positions? I don’t like to name names but if you go through name by name, you might appreciate why those in the general public might find it difficult to comprehend that those charged with managing certain portfolios are truly “meritorious”.   Put another way, if these ministers are the best of best, do we have a bigger problem?  
5. Review your own performance. Do a little self-analysis first and then encourage the people around you and your stakeholders to undertake some anonymous and confidential 360 feedback. This is very common in leadership. If you are scared of the results, perhaps that’s saying something?
6. Prioritise increasing women’s workforce participation. Did you know that Australia was the worst performing country in the OECD for women at work last year? It was. Our drop is largely explained by the fact our pay gap has increased so significantly. As the minister for women I probably don’t need to outline the contributing factors to this problem but I will. Our attitudes, our workplaces and infrastructure like childcare are impeding women’s ability to work. Given how much money we spend educating women and how much we need to engage women in the workforce, as highlighted in the Intergenerational Report, this is a substantial problem.  It is not a problem the government alone can solve.  But it can do a lot more than it is. The government can show leadership on the fact that in 2015 our workplaces need to accommodate and facilitate women’s participation. The government can show leadership in the way it recognises and respects the contribution of women. It can tackle childcare in a manner to ensure it facilitates the participation of women at work.      
7. Apologise to Gillian Triggs. Australians aren’t, as you said, sick of being lectured about human rights by the UN. Australians are mortified that we are showing such little regard for human rights that the UN considers an intervention necessary. The personal attacks on Gillian Triggs led by your government reflect badly.   
8. Implement a 50:50 quota for government boards. The percentage of women on federal government boards has gone backwards since you took over. It seems difficult to reconcile with your obvious leadership but it’s true. It’s also quite an achievement given the previous government’s success with its Boardlinks program. Given this is, without doubt, unsatisfactory to a feminist like yourself, it is time for an intervention. Follow the Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’ lead and impose a quota.
9. Focus on getting the product right, before you attempt to sell it. You have a big budget coming up. Some would say your job depends on it. My advice is to actually focus on developing policies that are effective and necessary before attempting to offload them to the public. Consulting and communicating with stakeholders, relevant experts and voters might be worth considering.