Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

It was 43 years ago today, in 1983, that Susan Ryan was appointed as the first woman to serve in a Labor cabinet—long before you were born, Senator Walker, but it shows that progress has been made over time, and you are now a member of a government that is 56 per cent women and a member of a parliament that is essentially gender equal, with 49 per cent of members and senators being women. But there is more work to do. We can't accept that we've made enough progress. There is more work to do to ensure that women of Senator Walker's generation and those that follow participate in an economy and a society where equality is sought and, regardless of whether you are a boy or a girl, you get an equal opportunity at every opportunity in life.