Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a)International Women's Day is celebrated on 8 March;

(b)the theme for 2018 is 'Press for Progress', recognising the strong and growing global momentum striving for gender equity; and

(c) now more than ever, governments must recommit to addressing entrenched gender inequities including:

  (i) high rates of family and domestic violence, sexual violence and harassment;

  (ii) pay inequity and the undervaluation of work in traditionally female industries; and

  (iii) the under-representation of women in Australian public life and leadership; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) end its complacency and ensure gender equality is a central priority for government; and

(b) commit to urgent action to improve Australian women's:

  (i) safety and physical security;

  (ii) economic security and retirement incomes;

  (iii) health and reproductive rights; and

  (iv) representation in Australian parliaments.

I could not be more pleased than to be standing here to recognise International Women's Day for another year. The 2018 event, which was held during our parliamentary break on 8 March, calls on us all to press for progress, and that's exactly what I and my colleagues in Labor intend to do. International Women's Day provides us with a terrific opportunity each year to take stock—to recognise and celebrate the advances we've made, but also to knowledge our failings and to reaffirm the direction that we need to be heading in.

In too many areas of Australian life, gender inequality remains entrenched. Women still earn 15 per cent less than their male counterparts. Political and broad representation is years off gender parity, and, 10 years after the establishment of the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, one woman every week is killed at the hands of a current or former partner. In so many areas there is much more for us to do. But this won't happen automatically. Sadly, progress is not inevitable, and, if we're to bring about real change, we need determined will, political will and action.

Nearly a year ago today, I addressed this House about International Women's Day 2017. I reported that Labor's Status of Women Committee, which I chair, was about to embark on a series of consultations across the country with Australian women and the organisations they represent. I reported that we planned to talk to women from all walks of life, from right across the country, about the issues they faced and the solutions they wanted to see in place. I am very pleased to report, a year on, that this is exactly what we did. Committee members hit the road throughout 2017 for a series of national conversations. This included 35 community meetings, workshops and roundtables, with more than 500 women engaging. We reached out to women in every state and territory, in the cities, rural and regional areas, including my home town of Newcastle. We heard from thousands of women across the country who attended these meetings, took part in the online survey or made a submission or whose views were represented as members of women's organisations. Participants said that their top five priority areas were: (1) ending violence against women and girls; (2) closing the gender pay gap; (3) preventing sexual harassment; (4) supporting marginalised women; and (5) improving access to reproductive rights and healthcare in Australia.

Labor has listened, with this feedback already helping to shape Labor's first policy response. In fact, on the eve of this year's International Women's Day, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and shadow minister for women, Tanya Plibersek, launched Setting the Agenda, a national strategy for gender equality which places gender issues at the very centre of government decision-making. It does this by setting out targets and frameworks for gender-responsive policy. This includes running a gender lens across every piece of legislation to consider its gender impacts, returning the women's budget statement, and convening a ministerial council for gender equality.

The strategy also includes a range of concrete targets that will deliver measurable change. Under the strategy, a Labor government will work with the states and territories to set a family and domestic violence reduction target. We will take measurable action to close the gender pay gap and report back to the parliament on our progress. We will aim to reduce the gap in workforce participation by a quarter by 2025. We will increase women's participation on government boards to 50 per cent in our first term and set a target of 40 per cent of chair and deputy chair positions to be filled by women by 2025. We will boost funding for the six national alliances, which represent more than 180 women's organisations, and fund the ABS to deliver a time-use survey in 2020 and 2027 so we can get real data to help us understand how government policies impact women.

We will act to protect university students from harassment and sexual assault. We need to do a better job of considering the impact of government policies on Australian women. There is no clearer example than the fact that Australia still levies GST on tampons but does not for Viagra. I agree with our deputy leader and shadow minister: this was a dumb decision when it was made in 1999; it is still a dumb decision, and we must fix it.

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion.

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Newcastle for calling for this debate today. International Women's Day is perhaps the most important issue day in the calendar. Women are half of our population, but not half of this parliament and not half of most workplaces. They aren't equal to men in pay and, devastatingly, they are dramatically overrepresented in statistics regarding domestic violence and sexual assault. This year we have seen the rise of the #MeToo movement, outing numerous predatory males who for years have been feted as exemplars.

My mother was a teacher. When she married my father she was forced to leave her job because having a female breadwinner just wouldn't do. Decades later my sister followed her into the teaching profession. On her marriage in the sixties, she was downgraded to a temporary employee. Today, thankfully, these are both abhorrent ideas that would be rightly criticised, so we have come a long way or, as when women's professional tennis began and Virginia Slims was their advertiser, the motto was: 'You've come a long way, Baby.' But there is still much further to go.

I was fortunate enough to celebrate the day at Medtronic, one of our great local medical companies. They put on a breakfast to commemorate the day, and I was honoured to be invited to speak. There was a lot of talk and aspiration about teaching gender equality in the workplace, but Medronic have put their money where their mouth is, with over 50 per cent of their employees being women and 40 per cent of the executive positions held by women. The sector, more broadly, much of which is based locally, also boasts fantastic results in this area. Health care has one of the highest proportions of women in senior leadership roles across any industry, with 70 per cent, according to the recent Workplace Gender Equality Agency report.

I would like to take this opportunity today to recognise the thousands of incredible women in the electorate I have the honour of representing. Bennelong is an incredible electorate with a fiercely vibrant community. Everywhere you look, we have people working together with businesses leading the world and strong cohesive narratives. But look a little closer: so much of this is because of the women who are giving their all to make our community a better place with people like Roseanna Gallo, who is giving our community a voice and getting us all to sing in tune together—a work in progress. Or, on the sporting field, Anne Doring has been getting girls into netball and sport by the thousands for decades. Every Saturday, through winter, Meadowbank courts are packed to the rafters with players from Anne's Eastwood Ryde Netball Association—one of the largest in the country. There are also groups like Ryde District Mums, promoting women across our community, giving them support and ensuring they have access to everything they need.

Of course, our community is one of the most ethnically diverse in the country, and there are many women in the many community groups representing their different diasporas. Agnes Shim from the Korean Women's Association and the ladies of the Australian Asian Association of Bennelong, including Melissa Foong and Ester Lee, exemplify this. These groups help new arrivals to fit into their new home and ensure those who have been here for a long time retain memories of their roots. They are responsible for the vitality of our community and we can't thank them enough.

Bennelong is also home to over 14,000 small businesses, many thriving and many run and supported by women. There are clearly too many to name, but I'd like to highlight the great work done by some who bring this all together. Nora Etmekdjian has been a stalwart of the Ryde small business community for many years now and was integral to the success of the West Ryde Easter fair, which was celebrated this past weekend. Similarly, Lydia Scuglia and her sister Marcella Letteri are small business owners who manage to juggle their workload with work for the Riverside Business Forum, which brings together and supports businesses across the electorate.

Time is short, shorter than I hoped. So many of the people I would like to mention here today, I can't. Many know who they are, and I hope all the women that I deal with through representing Bennelong know how grateful I am to them. Before I conclude, I do need to mention my family, in which my son and I are thoroughly outnumbered. Thank you to all the women in my life: my mother, my three sisters, and now my daughters, who take up the task.

Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today proudly to speak on International Women's Day, which is the focal point for the movement of women's rights right around the world and has been celebrated for over 100 years. Disappointingly, though, we're going to have to keep celebrating and keep going to all of those breakfasts for the next 200 years if we continue on the trajectory that we have already set for ourselves. The day helps us to recognise and honour some of the amazing women and the important, impressive achievements of women right around the globe. International Women's Day also helps us to galvanise collective action across the globe. We have seen this movement gain more momentum and we've seen the fourth wave of feminism, if you like, across the globe, fuelled by movements like #MeToo, Time's Up, and the one that Tracey Spicer, our own, launched right here in Australia over the weekend, the NOW movement, which is a way for Australian women in the workplace to be heard on sexual harassment.

International Women's Day marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity, which the World Economic Forum's Global gender gap report 2017 tells us is 200 years away. That's a lot of International Women's Day breakfasts right there, just to be treated equally. We don't want to get above you guys—don't panic. We just want to be treated equally: pay, conditions and all of those things. And we must take steps to close the gender gap. As Bill Shorten, our leader, has said:

Achieving equality for women and men is a test of our national character and an essential building block for national prosperity.

I am incredibly proud of Labor's rich legacy in addressing the gender gap, not just delivering empty words. 'Legacy' is probably the wrong word, given that we're still championing this cause and taking steps to reduce the unfairness between the sexes, including introducing the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act; the national women's alliances, so women had a voice in government; and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to help close the gender gap. We set up 1800RESPECT and had to fight for the funding to continue, and we saw the dreadful privatisation of that service last year. We introduced the National Women's Health Policy in 2010. We raised the childcare rebate to 50 per cent—not entirely a women's issue though. We listed RU486 on the PBS. And we set ourselves quotas for female representation in the halls of power. We are on track to deliver those quotas and the key targets that we set for ourselves. We haven't stopped and will not stop fighting for the 75 per cent of women who have lost their penalty rates.

Last year on International Women's Day Bill Shorten announced that we would develop a comprehensive blueprint for gender equality, which my colleague Sharon Claydon ran through before. Through our Labor Status of Women Caucus Committee, which I am very pleased to be a secretary on, chaired by the member for Newcastle, we spent last year hearing from over 5,000 women at 35 hearings as part of our Setting the Agenda conversation, giving women in our communities a voice. I am proud that a Labor government will work to set up frameworks for gender responsive policy and decision-making. We will introduce gender impact assessments on cabinet submissions and new policy proposals, and bring back the Women's Budget Statement, unbelievably scrapped by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was also the Minister for Women, disgracefully. Further, a Labor government will convene a ministerial council on gender equality.

When International Women's Day first began, women were championing their rights and demanding that they be given the right to vote. We have moved on from that argument. In terms of political representation, back in 1994, Labor said we needed more women in parliament. Back then, we had about 14 per cent. In 2018, and with the recent election of Ged Kearney in the seat of Batman, today we are now at 48 per cent. The coalition, by comparison, pathetically, are at 22 per cent. I did hear the member for Bennelong talking about the importance of women. I challenge him: set up your own status of women caucus committee within your own party. The motion that is before us today is not even supported by the Minister for Women, who is supposed to represent half the country. Also, two out of the three speakers offered up by this government are blokes—telling us about our women's issues. Having women in parliament and in positions of power makes a massive difference to all women around the country and also around the world. Sadly, we're seeing the coalition have to play catch-up, and all we ever hear from them is whingeing about our quota system. Well, guys, boys, it works.

I am proud that, in Lindsay this year, we brought together 130 women for my International Women's Day event. We had Jane Caro join us as our special guest, and she was inspirational and formidable, as she always is. We had an awards ceremony for the incredibly impressive women who are doing great things in our electorate that you never hear about because, typically, women go about what we're doing quietly, amongst ourselves, and we don't put ourselves out there to be recognised or big-note ourselves and put ourselves up for awards—which is one of the challenges that we've got. I want to thank all of those people and wish everyone a happy International Women's Day.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to begin by saying how important it is to have men stand up for women. On International Women's Day, it's a celebration of women's achievements and what women can do, but critical to that is making sure that men have the courage and capacity to stand up, and will not be derided for standing up, for women. We know International Women's Day has been celebrated since the early 1900s. The advancement of the interests of women and fighting for their rights, for gender parity, has been critical, but no more critical than having incredible role models. I have the great privilege of being able to represent an electorate that is named after one of Australia's most significant women, Vida Goldstein.

In 1984, the division of Goldstein was founded to honour a particularly courageous woman, Vida Goldstein, who was instrumental in winning the right to vote for Australian women, two decades before the United Kingdom. Vida Goldstein's legacy was not just as a suffragette; she was one of the first women ever to stand for parliament in the entire British Empire—for the Senate for the great state of Victoria. She fought for the right for women not just to vote but also to buy property and enter into marriages on the same terms as men. Some might say that she was the marriage equality advocate of her times. Today we have female CEOs, prime ministers, soldiers and astronauts. Progress is visible. Female success, through freedom, choice and empowerment, is there for all of us to celebrate on International Women's Day. But we must continue to press for more progress.

In acknowledging the progress, 8 March was also about recommitting ourselves to smashing the remaining barriers to true gender parity in society—in particular, the high rates of domestic violence, sexual violence, and harassment that many women still endure. A recent ABS survey of 21,000 women shows, tragically, that as many as half of all women in Australia have been sexually harassed. Many other statistics still have alarming numbers. Globally, each day, 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Women also make up 64 per cent of the world's illiterate population.

A century ago, Vida Goldstein fought for these foundational rights and freedoms for women in our country. Today, in the same vein, we must take up the battle, and it must be about men and women working together to advance the interests of women. It isn't just a fight by women. We have to fight for women's domestic safety, as well as for their economic health and reproductive freedoms.

In the Goldstein electorate we are lucky to have many female role models to celebrate, many of whom we acknowledged with Australia Day honours this year: Beryle Campbell Foster OAM, from Brighton, for her service to women in Victoria, including legal service, the National Council of Women Victoria and the League of Women Voters Victoria; Faye Haskin-Dubrowin OAM, from Caulfield South, for service to interfaith relations and to community as the first female president of B'nai B'rith Victoria; and Hatice Basarin, from Hampton, for her dedication to the preservation of Australian and Turkish military history.

Featuring in the Bayside City Council awards this year we had Millicent Roper and Stevie-Lou Answerth, who are new, up-and-coming women trailblazers. They were the recipients of the 2018 Young Citizen of the Year award for their work to develop an inclusive culture at Bayside schools, including for LGBTI students. Meren Reid received the City of Bayside's 2018 environment award for her longstanding volunteer contribution to Bayside's wonderful natural environment.

Similarly, in Glen Eira, we had Cara Morgan, from McKinnon, who won the Young Citizen of the Year award as chair of the 5th/6th Central Moorabbin Scouts Group's Venturers. That was along with Lital Weizman, from Caulfield South, who volunteers with Stand Up's Encounters Mentoring Program and tutors year 8 Sudanese students while also assisting with Sudanese youth and culture events.

I'd also like to give a special mention to Martine Harte, a fierce women's advocate who was awarded a prestigious Melbourne Press Club Gold Quill award for excellence in journalism. Martine also received a Logie award nomination and is judging this year's Telstra Business Women of the Year awards. We're very proud to have her as part of our community. She was described by The Age newspaper as 'an ideal general for the growing female army'. Martine uses new media to challenge thinking about the rights of women and girls, and I'm proud to be able to say that we're working with her to try to advance and celebrate women in the Goldstein electorate and the capacity they can have to influence and shape the future of our community, our state and our nation.

I'd also like to acknowledge Michelle Ayyuce, from Black Rock, who is another leading voice working towards a future where women are able to successfully manage career breaks and family commitments and to recognise the modern reality that women need to be able to make choices and continue with their careers without disadvantage.

Lastly, to finish on an optimistic note—and I say this with difficulty as a Melbourne Football Club man—the Western Bulldogs took home the AFL women's 2018 premiership over the weekend. It's great to see so many talented young women finally given the opportunity to inspire on our sporting fields.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I'm able to speak today about the importance of International Women's Day. It's a time to observe and reflect on the progress that we've made in attempting to achieve parity for women and also to focus on the fact there are many, many areas that still need addressing if we are to achieve real progress for women. We're pressing for progress, and we need to keep pressing for progress, because there is still a lot that we need to do to ensure equality for women throughout the world.

I want to thank my colleague and friend the member for Newcastle for bringing this motion forward. I just want to comment on those opposite. We had an opportunity for five speakers on this motion. Two speakers on the opposite side have been blokes; one of them is a woman who hasn't fronted yet, as far as I'm aware; and there are still two opportunities that are going begging. There are still two opportunities to speak on International Women's Day, which those opposite can't bring themselves to do.

They can't muscle up a speech to talk about the inequality that faces women throughout Australia, throughout their communities and throughout the world. It's an absolute disgrace that those opposite cannot muscle up five speakers to speak on something as important as International Women's Day, something as important as press for progress, something as important as equality for women in their communities, in Australia and throughout the world.

In speaking very proudly on this motion, I acknowledge and support the sisters who have blazed the trails for us, who have led the way over decades in some hard-fought fights in their fight for fairness and equality. Thank you, sisters, for fighting the good fight over those many, many years, over many decades, but unfortunately there is still a long way to go, so we cannot rest on our laurels.

Each day, women are confronted with injustices at every level, be it the high rates of family violence, be it the pay gap, be it underrepresentation of women in leadership positions. Every woman has a right to feel safe in her community and in her home. We know that in Australia one woman is killed by a current or former partner every week. In my own community, Canberra was devastated by the death of Tara Costigan at the hands of her partner. Tara was killed in 2015. She was a devoted mother of three children, and her life was stolen as a result of the scourge that is domestic violence in our community. Unfortunately, Tara's story is not rare. It's one that many Australian women face each and every day as they fall victim to family violence. One of the real concerns that I have is the fact that these women are not just suffering at the hands of domestic violence but also don't feel that they can escape these abusive relationships—because of a lack of financial independence, because of a lack of economic opportunity or because of a lack of somewhere safe to go in terms of a home.

Globally, less than 20 per cent of women own land and 70 per cent of people living in poverty are women. We have the responsibility of ensuring that women have viable plans for financial stability, including in retirement. Relying on a man for financial security is not a financial plan for the future. This is what I tell women and girls in my community endlessly: a man is not a financial plan.

Sisters, you have to become financially independent. You have to take control of your fertility if you are to determine your own future, if you are to have choice in life and if you are to have opportunity in life. If you want to pursue the dreams that you've had since childhood, you have to be financially independent and you need to take control of your fertility.

And the framework, the premise, behind all of that is education and having access to education, no matter what your background is, no matter how much your parents earn, no matter what your gender is, no matter what race you are and no matter what your religion is. That's why it's deeply concerning to learn that our early educators are struggling to be treated seriously and struggling to get decent pay and conditions. We've got a campaign rolling out this week that acknowledges the significant contribution these educators make to educating for our future and to ensuring that the children of our nation have opportunities to get a decent education.

I encourage Australians to support their campaign.

Julia Banks (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to this motion that acknowledges that we celebrated and observed International Women's Day on 8 March. International Women's Day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is a big day for inspiration and change. This year the theme of International Women's Day was 'press for progress'. I am very proud to be a member of the Turnbull government, a government that is continuing to deliver progress and better outcomes for women in my electorate of Chisholm and indeed across Australia. To put it simply, the Turnbull government is fully committed to supporting and encouraging women in Australia so that there will be no limits to what they can aspire to achieve. The Turnbull government is certainly pressing for progress regarding the status of women in our society. Indeed, equality for all Australians underpins our government's agenda. The Turnbull government is committed to redressing entrenched gender inequities through striving to achieve equality of opportunity for all Australians by implementing integral policies, including a focus on galvanising women's safety and economic security through access to employment, as well as minimising homelessness and optimising educational outcomes, to name a few.

As the chair of the newly formed Parliamentary Friends of Women's Health, which is to be launched today, I'm particularly pleased to speak today about our broad-based health initiatives, which target the health issues that specifically pertain to women or for which there are high incidences or differing symptoms between women and men. Most notably, I'm proud to report on the Turnbull government's groundbreaking policies that are saving and will continue to save lives by significantly reducing the incidence of health challenges such as the diagnosis of ovarian, cervical and breast cancers. The Turnbull government is committed to tackling cancer and provides, through Medicare, support for women who are suffering from cancer. Last November we added two new Medicare items for the testing of gene mutations that predispose women to cancers. We've also moved to ensure that medicines to treat cancer are more affordable by increasing government spending on PBS medicines in the last financial year.

With regard to early detection and screening for breast cancer, the last federal budget announced funding of $64.3 million over the next four years to allow BreastScreen Australia to continue to actively invite women aged 70 to 74 to screen for the early detection. More broadly, the government has invested over $10 billion for cancer control activities, and in the last financial year the government invested around $2.9 billion for cancer control activities. These measures are just some examples of how our government is striving to ensure that all Australian women can reach affordable and timely health care.

The Turnbull government is committed to ensuring the safety of Australian women and children and redressing the rates of family and domestic violence in our nation. Most notably, our $100 million Women's Safety Package is directly targeting the causes and effects of violence against women, including $59 million for practical and immediate action to keep women and children safe, including provision of security technologies; the development of the Australian government's eSafety Women website, which empowers women to take control and safeguard themselves and their children from technology-facilitated abuse; $36 million for training in frontline services; $5 million for outstanding educational resources; importantly, $25 million to address family violence in Indigenous communities; and $30 million for frontline legal assistance and family law services.

The Turnbull government is fully committed to supporting women's employment, encouraging women into leadership positions and increasing financial empowerment of women. We've set an ambitious but achievable target for women to hold 50 per cent of Australian government board positions. From a productivity and intergenerational perspective and given our ageing population, there must be increased participation of women in the workforce and in leadership. As such, our government has made it a priority to reduce the workforce participation gap for Australian women by 25 per cent by 2025. More women in the workforce means more women being made ready for leadership positions. Increased participation of women in the workplace is intrinsically linked to providing these opportunities for women, so the Turnbull government's significant childcare reforms include the allocation of an additional $2.5 billion for a number of childcare initiatives and also investing $430 million to support universal access to preschool and $263 million for the rollout of ParentsNext, as well as other measures to boost women's workforce participation. I'm proud to be part of the Turnbull government which has focused on support for women to ensure progress for future generations of Australian women.

Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Newcastle for proposing this motion in support of International Women's Day, which was celebrated on 8 March this year. The theme for 2018 is 'Press for Progress', recognising the strong and growing global momentum striving for gender equality. Now, more than ever, governments must recommit to addressing entrenched gender inequality.

An important issue that must be addressed is paid domestic violence leave. Domestic violence leave will cost only about 5c per day per employee, but the real point is that the human cost of a type of leave that is used only in the most critical of circumstances must come before profit. The statistics in this area are shocking. One in five women experience harassment within the workplace; on average, one woman is killed every week by a current or former partner; Indigenous women and girls are 35 times more likely than the wider female population to be hospitalised due to family violence. A lack of domestic violence leave means further trauma for domestic violence victims, rather than the assistance a compassionate society should provide.

The Western Australian, Queensland and Victorian state governments have now introduced 10 days paid domestic violence leave for public servants. That is a terrific decision. Here, the minister for employment, who is also the former Minister for Women, instructed this government's departments and agencies to oppose paid domestic violence leave in their enterprise agreements. Frankly, this is disgraceful. Those who oppose this policy due to cost need to think about the human cost of not acting. If you believe the issue is too prevalent and, therefore, too costly, focus on reducing the scourge of domestic violence; don't stop the protection of the victims.

Penalty rates, also, are a fundamental part of the Australian way of life. They protect our weekends, seek to compensate for a loss of time with family and provide a way for low-paid workers to get a bit more in their wallets each week, making it easier—though not easy—to make ends meet. Many Australians earn an annualised salary where they trade off those penalty rates for greater flexibility for both their employers and themselves. The quid pro quo here is that these salaries should compensate for that reasonable overtime and weekend work penalty rates that they forgo. But analysis shows that women earn 33 per cent less than men in Australia when rates of part-time work are taken into account. The cut in penalty rates will exacerbate the gender pay gap, with women making up the majority of workers in these lower paid jobs that are affected by these cuts. Juggling family life and work is a tough gig. I know that, and my wife, Annabel, especially knows that. Everyone in this place should know that. So, with this government cutting penalty rates for the people who need them the most, the result is another hurdle for equality for women in the workplace.

But gender equality is not just about those individuals. It is an issue of international economic and social importance. For too long, it has largely been women who have been advocating at the front, achieving hard-won improvements, while so many men hold the power and influence to help advance this work.

The Male Champions of Change movement and approach is a growing part of removing entrenched gender inequalities. The Male Champions of Change coalition now encompasses eight action groups, with over 130 leaders from across Australian industry, but, of course, this needs to grow, and it needs to grow much more. Currently there are, frankly, unacceptably low levels of women in leadership in politics, especially in this government, and business, with the percentage of women on ASX 200 boards now at a whopping 26.7 per cent! That's half the proportion of the actual population. It's also less than the number of men named John, Peter or David on those boards. In the legal profession, which I hail from, it is clear that the pace of change has been especially slow, with over 63 per cent of graduates now being women, yet women only occupying 10 per cent of high-level positions in the profession.

With the election of Ged Kearney to the Labor Party, we now have a magnificent gender balance in our caucus of 48 per cent, demonstrating that gender quotas do actually work and are needed. Of course, there's still more work to do. The Prime Minister, though, likes to talk a big game about his support for women, yet, as evidenced by the proportion of women in his party room and ministry, the Prime Minister is all talk and no action. Unfortunately, the results for women's policy under this government are also woefully inadequate. I commend this motion to the House, and I stand here as a proud feminist in support of it.

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a delight to speak on the member for Newcastle's motion on International Women's Day. I had the privilege this year of partnering with two organisations to bring International Women's Day to the Blue Mountains. Springwood Neighbourhood Centre, led by Toni Quigley, has marked International Women's Day with a breakfast for as long as any of us can remember. Women with Altitude is a networking and support group for businesswoman started in the mountains by Andrea Turner-Boys, who has organised International Women's Day events in more recent years. So the coming together of these two groups was destined to be a success.

I joined a panel discussion that included Jen Ballard, who has been a woman in the sport of motorcycling racing; Molly Cameron, a Winmalee High School student; and SJ Staszak, a mum who lost the use of her legs after a supposedly simple operation on a bulging disc, but that hasn't stopped her from abseiling. The panel discussion brought a whole group of women, everyone who was in the audience, to consider the progress that has been made to date, the sort of progress that we need to see and how to press for that progress, living the themes of International Women's Day. I'd like to add that it was wonderful to have Winmalee High School senior students there, represented by Erin, Hayley and Georgie, and the deputy principal, Voula Facas. It's just wonderful to see the sort of support that this community gives to young women. I'd like to congratulate all involved, including Jacinta Tobin for her very moving and beautiful welcome to country. Let's hope that it's the first of many collaborations, which are, of course, what women do well.

The North Richmond Community Centre continued its tradition of hosting an International Women's Day event. This year, Anne Lowe revealed some of the challenges of being a woman in an Australian defence coding unit during the Vietnam War. It was quite a pertinent choice, because the movie that the group saw was Hidden Figures, which is, of course, the story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital and secret role at NASA in the early years of the US space program doing coding. They were women in non-traditional roles. It was wonderful to hear Anne's stories about what it was like for her. As always, Birgit and her team at North Richmond provided an inclusive and supportive event for women of all ages, and my thanks go to Stacy Etal and Maree Fayne from the Hawkesbury Community Outreach Services, both of whom played a key role in the event.

While International Women's Day is an important day, there are many women who celebrate and support the power of women every day. One such group is Pink Finss. They provides practical and emotional support to women with cancer. Saturday night was the third Pink Tie Ball to raise funds for the many things that Pink Finss do—and yes, almost a pink tie over there; coming close. Two brave women told very powerful and gut-wrenching stories of their experiences of losing their sister and friend Amanda to breast cancer. Once again, as is always the case at this event—and this is my third time there—they proved to be totally inspirational.

Pink Finss founder, Jodie Amor, and a team including Emma-Jane Garrow, Kym Burton and Maria Miller focus on supporting women as they recover. They go through the treatment and they ensure quality of life when the days that remain are short. Jodie, the founder, was just 33 and married with two young children when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a journey that changed not only her life forever but also that of hundreds of other women and their families.

The work Pink Finss do from their base in Windsor is an incredible model of women supporting women. They also support families and friends, so it enhances the environment in which women can deal with their treatment or come to terms with the fact that their treatment hasn't been successful—and, sadly, it happens.

Pink Finss are master fundraisers, as Saturday night's event was evidence of. They attract terrific support from the Hawkesbury community, and I would like to congratulate all those who made donations on the night or beforehand, including the Hawkesbury Race Club which proudly hosts the ball. They've raised more than $1 million and helped over 100 women. This group has extended the support to women with any cancer now, and they are doing a great job. I commend their work as women who every day push the progress.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.