Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last month a bronze statue of women's rights campaigner Zelda D'Aprano was unveiled in Melbourne. It was a big deal. It's not every day that a woman is immortalised in bronze. In fact, it rarely happens. Zelda's most famous act was chaining herself to the doors of the Commonwealth building in 1969 to call for equal pay for women. Prominent historian Professor Clare Wright, who co-convenes a group called A Monument of One's Own, which aims to address the gender balance of statues, led the campaign. In her words, the creation of the Zelda statue is a critical act of commemorative justice in Australia, where less than four per cent of statues depict women. Only 10 of Melbourne's 582 statues depict female historical figures, making up less than two per cent. To help address this imbalance and lopsided view of history, the City of Melbourne has pledged to erect three new statues of significant Victorian woman, with its Celebrating women in Melbourne's history project. It called for nominations and by the end of the consultation period had received more than 1,000 submissions. A shortlist will be announced in August.

One woman who should absolutely be on that shortlist is Vida Goldstein. Vida Goldstein was the first woman in the Western world to nominate for a national parliament, when she stood for the Australian Senate in 1903. She subsequently ran for election to the federal parliament four more times, in 1910, 1913, 1914 and 1917; twice for the Senate and twice for the House of Representatives in the seat of Kooyong. She was unsuccessful on all five occasions. Vida worked tirelessly in Melbourne's disadvantaged communities. She was an active contributor to the women's suffrage movement. She published her own newspapers that focused on social reform and personally sold them on the street of Melbourne. She was invited to tour the United States and was the first Australian to meet an American president at the White House. She was invited to the UK and Europe to encourage the suffragette movement. And, like so many remarkable women who helped shaped history, she died in comparative obscurity, in 1949. In 1984 the division of Goldstein in Melbourne was named after Vida Goldstein. I'm honoured to represent the seat that carries her name, and I'm proud to support the nomination for a Vida Goldstein statue put forward by 87-year-old history buff Michael Pointer, who hand delivered his submission. Members of former Victorian premier from 1918 to 1924 Harry Lawson's family have also sent letters of support.

Public statues reflect how a society values its women and men. Lining a boulevard exclusively with men in gleaming shades of bronze gives us an incomplete and skewed version of our history. Excluding women sends the message that their contributions throughout history are not as important as those of men. And, if there are no women to literally look up to, how will girls and boys see the sexes as equal? Vida Goldstein's story should be celebrated and passed down like Matthew Flinders's story, Sir Redmond Barry's story or Weary Dunlop's story, but we don't know it, because women's achievements in politics, sport, the arts and every sector of society have been hidden throughout history. And a statue of Vida would also provide a timely reminder that the fight is not over, that as a nation we must continue to address the sexism and lack of respect women still face in the workplace and society more broadly.

At the base of the Zelda D'Aprano statue is the response that Zelda gave to a man who said to her on that important day in 1969, 'What can one woman hope to achieve?' Zelda replied, 'Today it was me, tomorrow there will be two of us, the next day there will be three and it will go on and on and there won't be any stopping it.' Today, particularly today, in this place I say: Here's to strong women! May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them and may we respect them.