Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I recently visited the Working Women's Centre New South Wales, located in my electorate, with the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Amanda Rishworth. The centre is a free specialist service supporting women with workplace issues, including sexual harassment and discrimination, wage theft, bullying and workplace exploitation. The centre provides legal advice and representation alongside education, training and law reform work aimed at improving conditions for women at work.

We got to hear from the assistant principal solicitors at the centre, Sharmilla Bargon and Kellie McDonald. As I listened to them talk about their work, I was so inspired by their commitment to improving the lives of women. Many of their clients had nowhere to turn and no-one on their side. They had been battling unfair work practices on their own and had gotten nowhere. They are single mothers, young women, Indigenous women and women from culturally diverse backgrounds trying to navigate a difficult legal process and taking action against their employers—a huge mountain to climb. They had turned to the Working Women's Centre New South Wales for legal advice, but they got so much more than that. They also found people who believed in them and backed and supported them, and it made a difference. They make a real difference to the lives of their clients, and, through their advocacy and campaigns, they are making a difference to all working women.

Their latest campaign is called I'm Speaking. It's about a simple principle: women who experience workplace sexual harassment or gender based violence should not be silenced. For too long, too many women have been pressured to stay quiet through non-disclosure agreements or threats of defamation action. The campaign is calling for stronger regulation of non-disclosure agreements, better protections against legal threats and safeguards to ensure the law is not misused against women. The centre is also leading the Super Woman campaign, focused on women's long-term economic security, and it shines a light on how lower pay, insecure work, unpaid caring responsibilities and workplace discrimination compound over a lifetime, leaving too many women with less superannuation in retirement.

The Working Women's Centre New South Wales is another example of the Albanese Labor government delivering for Australian women. In 2020. The Respect@Work report recommended that we increase funding to these centres, and, then in 2023, that's exactly what this Labor government did.

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