Conservative women suddenly find their voices but will the party — and voters — hear them roar?

While the rest of New South Wales is flooded at the moment, the island in the middle of the state — known as Canberra — looked like it had completely sunk yesterday.

The Morrison government is drowning under a deluge of debauchery, delusion and downright derangement.

After Scott Morrison’s extraordinary press conference, the bubble seems to have finally burst for the prime minister, his cabinet of muppets and the entire gutless government.

Hypocrisy though is the key takeaway from the whole sorry mess — from the PM down.

There was tearful ScoMo showing his sensitive side expressing outrage at all the “crap” women have endured for decades, even turning to the camera tearfully promising to protect the girls.

Yet within seconds he reverted to vicious head-kicker, threatening the media and throwing wild accusations about a sexual harassment victim. If it had a skerrick of truth it would have been bad enough — but by the end of the day he had to issue a grovelling apology admitting it was baseless.

Yes, prime minister, this is exactly the crap we have had to deal with for years.

And a little while longer it would seem.

But there is plenty of hypocrisy to go around. Particularly among the craven female members of this government, many of whom have previously seemed happy to act as Morrison’s handmaidens because we know those who speak up can simply disappear.

Yesterday there was Morrison starting to call for Labor-style quotas to get more women in Parliament and suddenly the Liberal women already there found their voices.

Remember: only a week ago at the March4Justice, there was an ominous silence from them — from the alleged Minister for Women, Marise Payne, down.

Tasmanian MP Bridget Archer was the first to say bugger it she would be attending the march even if the PM wouldn’t.

Victorian Senator Jane Hume meanwhile was inside Parliament fortuitously being filmed urging march organiser Janine Hendry to take up the offer to meet with the PM because it was “really really exciting” that she had been asked into the office like real world leaders.

Minutes later Hume and a gaggle of other Lib women were filmed in the midst of the march belting out I Am Woman.

One woman in that photo op was Nationals’ whip Michelle Landry who by yesterday was busily defending the Liberal aide at the centre of Wankgate, stating the “young fellow” was a “good worker and she felt “sorry” for him.

Some Liberal women were belatedly deciding we would hear them roar even if they had failed to do it after the Brittany Higgins rape allegation. Female ministers obviously began to think: “Imagine if this was my desk he masturbated upon.”

So yesterday we had Industry Minister Karen Andrews declare she had had a “gutful” and “my conscience will no longer allow me to stay silent” and she kicked off the call for quotas. (Pity the discussion wasn’t around when Morrison or his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull interfered to save preselection for the likes of Craig Kelly.)

Yesterday NSW upper house Liberal MP Catherine Cusack fired off a blistering tirade against the PM saying she was “appalled” by the party’s treatment of women and went so far as to declare she would no longer attend parliamentary party room meetings.

Many women point out that these same senior women who took a month to show the guts and bravery that young women in their 20s like Grace Tame and Higgins had done are the same women who have consistently backed the Morrison government’s blokey anti-woman agenda.

The mood is changing though with news this week that the government was shelving a controversial proposal to allow domestic violence victims to access their superannuation.

The announcement was lost in the misogyny maelstrom — as was another one yesterday that hands down wins the hypocrisy of the day, indeed the week, award: a report that the appalling former Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella was to be appointed to the Fair Work Commission on a salary of $387,000. (The appointment needs to be approved by cabinet.)

Thankfully voters didn’t care about gender balance when it came to the woman known as the nastiest person in Parliament and rejected her twice. But the government obviously thought her most recent credentials as Gina Rinehart’s mouthpiece were sufficient for such a sensitive job.

And guess who awarded the plumb mates gig? None other than Attorney-General Christian Porter. Yes, the very one on leave because of the trauma of historical rape allegations against him — which he strenuously denies.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Do you think female Liberal MPs need to step up? Write to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication in Crikey’s Your Say section.