Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I would like to highlight to the House a very important campaign: the Essentials 4 Women Adelaide campaign. This campaign aims to provide homeless and disadvantaged women with basic but often very costly sanitary products and underwear. When speaking to organisations that help these women, they often said that women do not particularly ask for these products when they turn up for help, but of course we all know that they need these products. I need to extend a huge thankyou to Kelly and Amy, two mums living in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, who really initiated and pushed this project, the first of its kind for South Australia.

Essentials 4 Women Adelaide asked for donation of sanitary products and underwear and received, in Adelaide, 10,000 items during this campaign. This was a huge effort by so many people in our community, and I was very pleased to join Amy and Kelly as well as the state member, Chris Picton, to present these items to Junction Australia housing and the local Southern Domestic Violence Service. These organisations do such a great job in supporting women, children and young people affected by domestic violence and homelessness.

My office was a drop-off location, and we were overwhelmed with the number of donations. I was really humbled to hear that a lot of people who brought in donations said they wished they could donate more but were not able to afford it. Those with the very least actually put their money forward and became part of this campaign.

Local organisations, such as aged-care homes, schools and local businesses, also made very generous donations. I would like to make special mention of the Noarlunga rotary club, which generously donated $200 in order to buy sanitary products for the cause.

It was a heart-warming campaign and showed that so many in our community, even those with not a lot of money, were willing to donate to this very important cause. What was also very interesting when we spoke with the Southern Domestic Violence Service and Junction Australia housing was they highlighted that women do not ask for these products; often, it is as a result of feeling embarrassed or shameful about it. It was an incredibly generous to offer to put packages together so that they, without having to ask, can receive these products.

I commend all those involved and thank all those organisations that do a huge amount of work in our community, and I especially thank Kelly and Amy, who brought this project to Adelaide. I commend them to the House.