Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to this motion and highlight some inspiring women in my electorate of Mallee ahead of International Women's Day. There have been inspirational stories of women in leadership from all over Australia throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. There are some outstanding ones in Mallee.

Di Thornton is a nurse practitioner from Murrayville who owns and operates Mallee Border Health Centre in Pinnaroo, South Australia. She was forced to close her clinic in South Australia when border restrictions first began last year, resulting in her and her staff being unable to go to work in South Australia from their border town in Victoria. After finally receiving an exemption to continue her essential service, Di was able to reopen her clinic in Pinnaroo. Since then, Di has worked tirelessly to provide thousands of COVID tests to members of her cross-border community who have been dealt blow after blow due to ongoing restrictions and border closures.

When border closures were in full effect, cross-border community members were required to be COVID tested every seven days for almost 20 weeks. The mammoth effort of health practitioners such Di and her team has been vital to supporting the needs of our rural communities along the border.

I've also been working with Paula Gust from Apsley. When South Australia closed their border to Victoria, Paula saw firsthand the terrible outcomes these restrictions were causing in her community. She started a Facebook page called 'Cross Border Call Out' to highlight the effect these restrictions were having on families, businesses and communities. Paula saw the need for clear and concise communication for cross-border community members. There was so much information coming from both sides of the border, but 'Cross Border Call Out' stayed on top of every message and passed them on to their followers. The page now has over 5,000 likes and continues to grow.

The Morrison-McCormack government understands women's issues and has provided several means to support women throughout the pandemic. The JobKeeper payment has supported countless women to continue operating their businesses and to remain employed. Tara Ridley owns and operates The Office wine bar in Mildura. As with many other hospitality businesses, she was forced to close her doors when restrictions were first introduced in country Victoria. Tara told me that JobKeeper saved her business. She was able to retain full-time employees, who didn't need to look elsewhere for employment during the restrictions and many of whom are also women. Tania Hovenden from Swan Hill has a similar story. Tania told me her business, Tan's Tuckerbox, would be closed without JobKeeper. She's been able to retain two of her staff and is confident in her ability to trade out of this downturn.

When the pandemic first hit, this government acted swiftly and decisively to provide additional support for domestic and family violence services. In 2020 we delivered a $150 million domestic violence response package. This was in addition to the $340 million investment in the fourth action plan. Also, $30 million was provided to the Victorian government to assist in their response to the COVID pandemic. This was to provide targeted support for family and domestic violence and to provide frontline services which were topped up through the pandemic. The government continued supporting women in the 2021 Commonwealth budget with the Women's Economic Security Statement. This is a $240 million commitment over five years. It aims to repair and rebuild women's workforce participation and, further, to close the gender pay gaps. It will also provide greater choice and flexibilities for families to manage work and care, support women as leaders and role models, respond to the diverse needs of women and support women to be safe at work and at home.

Women and families will be supported further through this government's ongoing commitment to affordable child care. In 2021 the government will pay approximately $9 billion in childcare subsidy payments. We know that access to child care is a key element of women's workforce participation. Our childcare package supported families during all-time-high women's workforce participation—61.5 per cent—in January 2020. The Commonwealth government is delivering a COVID-19 response and economic plan that is benefiting not just women but all Australians.

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