Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We've heard a bit of noise this week from those opposite about their own internals. We've heard a lot of noise from those opposite, thankfully—and not before time—about female representation in the Liberal Party. As a female member of the federal parliamentary Labor team, I'd like to say that I welcome the debate that those opposite are having. As a member of the Victorian branch of the Labor Party, I would like to say that I'm a very proud member of the parliamentary team here. I'm equally proud to follow in the steps of our former Prime Minister Julia Gillard as the member for Lalor. I remember distinctly Julia's preselection and I remember her election, and it wouldn't have happened if this side of politics hadn't determined to put in those quotas.

In this party, we envisioned a future where we saw gender equity, we saw the outcome we wanted and we built the pathways to make it happen. I implore those opposite to take a leaf out of our book. Quotas work—we on this side are evidence of that, but it has been a long journey, and it has not been done without good men, good Labor men, supporting that quota system. It is oft a surprise to me to remember that the Labor movement came from the blokiest of cultures. Yet we got here first, and we got here first because the blokes on this side of the chamber are feminists. (Time expired)