What's the deal with economic leadership and women in Australia? Nationally, Australia has never had a female treasurer, nor a woman as secretary of Treasury, nor for that matter, a female governor of the Reserve Bank. Remember, these three posts represent the supreme triumvirate of economic positions nationally. All have been held by men. Exclusively.  National Affairs Editor for Fairfax, Mark Kenny argues that this cannot be brushed off as the blind operation of the merit principle.