Fran O'Sullivan: Why Brash is in need of strong women at his side

What Don Brash needs is a dominant woman in his life. The Kiwi women Brash needs to get onside if he is ever to become Prime Minister are not the sort to be seduced by his paternalistic repetitions of "my wife is from Singapore".

I'm not suggesting he trades in his publicly adoring wife, Je Lan, for a hard-bitten New Zealand woman.

But if he is to connect with the majority of female voters who rejected him at the election, he needs at least one woman in his inner circle who is not afraid to wear the cojones.

And New Zealand women need to know he will not sack her - as he did Georgina te Heu Heu and Katherine Rich - when she rams home where the political bottom-line is for female voters.

A "Boagan" - as we shall dub this fearless taskmistress - would not have allowed Brash to prostitute himself in front of the bunch of stuffy Rotarians who determinedly rained on his parade at his so-called Orewa IV address on Tuesday.

The speech - on paper - hit many of the right buttons.

It correctly identified the economy as the issue du jour, identified health and aged care as major concerns for women, and it (mercifully) soft-pedalled the boring personal responsibility mantra that gets up the nose of those women who both run and fund the families they've had with feckless New Zealand men and in any event far prefer Prime Minister Helen Clark's more down-to-earth approach.

It went some way (but not far enough) to presenting Brash as a PM-in-waiting.

But in truth, Orewa IV was a dreadful affair. Brash was monstered by a Rotary Club so full of its own self-importance that it would not allow the timing of his speech to be orchestrated so he could "go live" after its delivery on the 7pm current affairs shows.

The laidback audience (no uppity females to ask questions, please) was close to comatose in the sultry Auckland weather. The questions were banal.

The Boagan would have decided months ago that Orewa had long ago passed its usefulness as a reference point.

Brash knew what he was doing when he chose to make his first "state of the nation" speech on Sir Robert Muldoon's old stamping patch months before he rolled Bill English as National leader. It was a symbolic demonstration he wanted the top job.

But Sir Robert's crowd - those he kicked about with during his annual sojourns at Hatfields Beach in the 1970s and 80s - are not those Brash needs to be seen to impress.

He needs to move on and connect with urban Aucklanders: city professionals, money women, Parnell jocks, stroppy Asian women - like those who were not afraid to confront Chinese President Hu Jintao over their student conditions here; fun-lovers; lawyers; and Ponsonby poseurs.

Reality check here. This country has been under female rule since 1996 and, unfortunately for The Don, most women would rather keep voting for Helen Clark than the man who wants her britches.

Can you imagine that Labour organisers would allow any possible leadership pretender like Phil Goff or Steve Maharey to make a staged late entrance at a Clark state-of-the nation - like National leadership aspirant John Key performed at Orewa IV? Fat chance.

The Boagan would have made damn sure that any contenders for Brash's job would have got short shrift. There would have been a cellphone call to say, "John, if you can't get here on time, either go through the side entrance or don't come!"

The Boagan would then have ordered the organisers to lock the doors to ram home her point.

The Boagan would also by now have stiffened Brash's spine to go for New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and challenge him to release the emails he claims to have in his possession that would end the National leader's political career.

Brash would have told Peters to "put up or shut up".

The Boagan would have sicked the police on to Peters for holding stolen property.

Clark doesn't need a Boagan because she is not afraid to do her own dirty work. Her male minders are there to soften her edges.

Clark also looks after her female MPs. Seven now hold roles in her ministry, ranging from the incomparable Annette King - whose early parliamentary blooding as a late-night cardsharp enabled her to escape the health portfolio without suffering terminal damage - to Ruth Dyson and Lianne Dalziel, both rehabilitated after minor misdemeanours, her long-time mate Judith Tizard and some more recent additions.

But women remember what happened to te Heu Heu and Rich, who were sacked for defending their portfolios from political abuse, not any personal transgression.

Of the 12 women in National's caucus, only the feisty Judith Collins - resplendent in her yellow jacket - is on the front bench.

Rich still languishes one row back, ranked well behind male politicians who have yet to demonstrate her level of effectiveness.

These are the images Brash needs to change fast.

Former National Party fixer Michelle Boag put him there. He needs her back now.