Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said:

You will make a difference in the world, but not immediately. Your first obligation is to find something you like doing, because if you like doing it, you'll do it well.

I love my job and I have the best job in the world, but it has been a particularly difficult few weeks. The Prime Minister said, in his own International Women's Day speech, it has been 'traumatic' here in parliament, and being in Canberra I can tell you that everyone has felt shocked, distressed and sick that a young woman who was a staffer could experience sexual assault in what is a second home. This should never happen. Women and men should always feel respected, protected and listened to. We all want to ensure that Brittany Higgins is the last person who has to go through this in our workplace.

I support the independent inquiry into Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces led by Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins to address the cultural and structural changes that need to happen. Indeed, all of us across parliament are very focused on this, and, hopefully, it will be our parliament that shows leadership in the future on these very important issues, as we continue to work through how things will be and must be different.