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

[by video link] In June this year we saw another round of exceptional Australians recognised for their outstanding achievement and service to their local community through the Queen's Birthday Honours. However, too often women are overlooked in the granting of these honours. Since the Order of Australia was established, in 1975, women have consistently received fewer than 30 per cent of the Australian honour awards. This has denied women the right to be represented accurately in the public record for their achievements to our nation.

Honour a Woman is a wonderful organisation that is dedicated to improving women's representation in our honours system. I had the pleasure of meeting with them recently, and I want to thank Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, Carol Kiernan and Ruth McGowan for all the work they have done on this cause.

Over the past 18 months of the pandemic, we have seen the absolute best of Australians. Our communities have come together. People have looked out for one another. I'm sure everyone in this place can think of women in their community who, at every community barbecue, are the first to put their hand up when help is needed. These women have worked silently and diligently for the betterment of society throughout their whole careers. I want to encourage members in this place to make sure that they are considering supporting the nomination of these women so that our community is able to acknowledge that both men and women are making these substantial contributions, not just now, during the time of the pandemic, but throughout our history.

I want to congratulate the women in my electorate who received an Order of Australia in the most recent Queen's Birthday honours. I’m pleased that in my area they made up nearly 50 per cent of recipients, but, of course, there's work still to be done. I want to congratulate Professor Ann Curthoys, who taught me at university. She was awarded for her service to tertiary education and research. At the age of 20, Ann took part in the Freedom Rides to shine a light on racism against First Nations Australians. Ten years later, Ann established the Women's Studies Program at the Australian National University. Since then, she has dedicated her career to different aspects of Australian history.

I want to congratulate Kate Eastman SC for her significant contribution to the law and human rights. Her extensive career has included representing Yazidi women trafficked into Syria and David Hicks during his time in Guantanamo Bay, women experiencing sexual violence, sexual harassment and discrimination, and war crimes investigations.

I want to congratulate Kerry Chikarovski, the former leader of the NSW Liberal Party—the first woman to hold that post—for her significant contribution to the New South Wales parliament, and Professor Beryl Hesketh for her services to STEM education. Professor Hesketh has worked at several universities across the state and has been a member of a wide range of organisations. I want to congratulate Dr Helen Scott-Orr, whose work as a vet and epidemiologist and Inspector-General of Biosecurity has been critical to ensuring the safety of Australia's environment and ecosystems. In the eighties, Helen and her team were central to the eradication of bovine tuberculosis and brucellosis. I want to congratulate Susan Lever for her service to literature as a reviewer, editor and writer, and Mary Walker for service to the law. Mary has been at the forefront of alternative dispute resolution in Australia for the last 20 years.

Congratulating all these individual women shows the enormous diversity of areas that women have contributed to in Australian society. I want to take this opportunity to urge anybody who's listening in the community and certainly to urge my parliamentary colleagues: please make sure you think about the outstanding women in your community, the outstanding women that you know, and please make an effort to acknowledge them by recommending them for an Australian honour. It's really only when our Australian honours system shows the gender diversity of Australia's great achievers that we will be confident we're catching all of those wonderful achievements. Please remember: honour a woman.