Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise on a very sad note this morning to talk about the death of Joan Margaret Bielski, nee Ward, who passed away at the age of 88 on Friday, 17 August 2012. She was a feminist and activist to the end. I am very proud to have worked with her on many issues of importance to women and I am very grateful to her and to her generation of feminists who did so much for equality between men and women in Australia. I should also take this opportunity to mention that Delcia Kite, a former member of the New South Wales Parliament, also passed away, but I know that Delcia's friends and colleagues in New South Wales will pay tribute to her, so I will concentrate on Joan Bielski.

Born in Narrabri, New South Wales, in 1923, Joan Bielski left school early, without gaining a leaving certificate, like many of her generation. Yet, after serving in the Air Force, she went on to graduate from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 1949, majoring in history and economics. Joan Bielski's lifetime of advocacy began in earnest in the 1950s, with her calls for equal pay for women. It is hard for girls of my daughter's generation or my niece's generation to imagine that there was a time when women were legally paid less than men and people made an argument in the community that paying men and women equally would mean 'the end of our economy as we know it'.

In the 1960s, Joan worked on migrant welfare issues and was a member of the committee which led to the founding of the Council for Civil Liberties in 1963. In the early 1970s, Joan became involved in local resident advocacy, eventually becoming the New South Wales president of Resident Action Groups. In 1972, she was a founding member of Women's Electoral Lobby Australia, WEL. She led and worked with others to make submissions to the 1973 federal commission of inquiry into poverty, which resulted in legislative changes recognising the special needs of single parents and their children. WEL also worked to propose the establishment of the Women's Coordination Unit within the New South Wales government in 1975 and Joan worked to document and lobby for the enactment of anti-discrimination legislation which was passed in 1976.

In 1988, Joan Bielski was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to women and girls, especially in education. In 1992 Joan Bielski led the establishment of Women into Politics Inc., a coalition of national women's organisations with the objective of increasing the number of women in Australian parliaments. Joan said of her own life:

My life's work has convinced me that in a democratic society those without power but with the will and the skill and with a case presented with reasoned advocacy can affect reform.

Joan spent her life working for a fairer society in Australia and for equality between men and women. She helped people right across Australia to lead better lives. I pay tribute to her life's work.