Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion in relation to the document tabled by the President, being a response to a resolution of the Senate in relation to women’s suffrage in Australia.

Leave granted.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

In my capacity as shadow parliamentary secretary for the status of women, I am pleased to speak on the response to the resolution of the Senate on recognising women's suffrage in Australia. The year 2013 is significant in Australia's political and social history because we will celebrate 110 years since women won the right to vote and the right to stand for election in Australia. It is therefore an opportune time for us as Australians to reflect on the remarkable achievements that have been made for women and by women, and to reflect on how far we have come in the last 110 years. In relation to women's suffrage, Australian women have so much to celebrate.

It is worth noting that the highest office in the land, Governor-General of Australia, is held by a woman. Under section 68 of the Constitution the Governor-General exercises the important role of Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force. Currently, a number of the most senior roles in the federal parliament are held by women, including the positions of Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of the Opposition. We also have a number of women in the federal cabinet. We have also seen women occupying the high office of Premier or Chief Minister in the Australian states and territories.

The significance of what Australian women have achieved since universal suffrage is evident and stands in stark contrast when one considers that Kuwait's parliament only extended suffrage to women in 2005, and only by a 35-23 vote. In Saudi Arabia, women are still deprived of any meaningful representation.

It should also not be forgotten that, when Australian women achieved the right to vote in federal parliament in 1902, there was no other country in the world where women could both vote and stand for the national parliament. The Liberal Party of Australia has a very proud history of firsts when it comes to women in the federal parliament.

Enid Lyons, later Dame Enid Lyons, representing the United Australia Party, won the seat of Darwin in Tasmania, becoming one of the first two women to be elected to the Commonwealth parliament and the first to sit in the House of Representatives. In 1949 she was appointed Vice-President of the Executive Council in the new Liberal-Country Party ministry led by Prime Minister Menzies. Until 1956 federal cabinet comprised all members of the ministry, and Lyons was therefore the first woman in federal cabinet.

Senator Margaret Guilfoyle, later Dame Margaret Guilfoyle, was a Liberal senator for Victoria and broke new ground in federal politics. Senator Guilfoyle's achievements included being the first woman to be appointed a member of cabinet with a specific portfolio—namely, Minister for Social Security—and being the first woman to hold an economic portfolio, Finance. Dame Enid Lyons was, of course, the first woman in cabinet but did not have a specific portfolio. Senator Guilfoyle is also the second longest serving female minister in the Commonwealth parliament, serving from 1975 to 1983.

The Liberal Party's Senator Margaret Reid is the first and only woman to have served as President of the Senate, one of the two most senior positions in the Commonwealth parliament. Senator Reid was also one of only two women to be appointed Deputy President and Chair of Committees in 1995.

Liberal Senator Annabelle Rankin, later Dame Annabelle Rankin, became the first Queensland woman to be elected to the Senate. She was also the first female whip in any Westminster parliament when she became Opposition Whip in the Senate after taking up her seat in 1947. She then became the first female Government Whip in the Senate, a position she held for 15 years from 1951 to 1966. In 1966 she became first female minister in the Commonwealth parliament with portfolio responsibility—although not in cabinet—as Minister for Housing, during which time she introduced a housing scheme for skilled migrants. The federal electoral division of Rankin was named after her in 1984. Eight of the 10 longest-serving women in the Commonwealth parliament since 1901 are Liberal women—Kathy Sullivan, 27 years; Bronwyn Bishop, 24 years; Annabelle Rankin, 23 years; Amanda Vanstone, 22 years; Margaret Reid and Ivy Wedgwood, 21 years; and Kay Patterson and Susan Knowles, 20 years. Kathy Sullivan and Bronwyn Bishop have served in both chambers.

As a Liberal senator, I am proud to be part of a political party that had the foresight to encourage, endorse and support the first women to the federal parliament. I am also proud to be a member of a political party that has actively supported and promoted women through policies, strategies, services and benefits that have been specifically designed to strengthen the legal, economic, social, cultural and political dimensions of women's lives. For example, under the Howard government, key achievements that positively impacted on women included the enactment of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999.

When Tony Abbott, now the Leader of the Opposition, was a senior minister in the Howard coalition government, he took action to improve the circumstances of women in the workplace and was a strong advocate in improving women's health in the wider community. Some achievements from those years include the following. The coalition amended the Sex Discrimination Act to explicitly recognise breastfeeding as a potential ground of unlawful discrimination in the workplace. The coalition committed $8.7 million over four years to breastfeeding education and support in the 2007-08 budget. Under the coalition, anastrozole was listed on the PBS for treatment of early stage breast cancer. Under the coalition, Herceptin was listed on the PBS for treatment of early stage breast cancer. The coalition increased funding for successful screening programs for cervical cancer, resulting in a steady decline in Australia's cervical cancer rate.

But, whilst celebrating our achievements, we must not forget that despite the many rights and privileges Australian women enjoy there remain challenges both here and abroad. I am proud to say the coalition has a strong record of supporting female empowerment. Should the coalition gain government at the next election, we have committed to introducing a comprehensive paid parental leave scheme. The coalition's scheme will provide real time and real money to working women, offering eligible women 26 weeks at their replacement wage up to $75,000 per annum. We in the coalition like to celebrate female success and economic empowerment.

Unlike Labor's limited and indeed narrow scheme, the coalition's PPL scheme includes superannuation, which is an important step in addressing the chronic disparity between male and female retirement incomes. Under the Howard government, the coalition also recognised that, when you live in a globalised community, introducing policies at a local and national level that empower women is only the beginning.

As a developed country we have an obligation to take steps to advance gender equality and in turn empower women in the developing world. In its 2006 Australian government white paper on overseas aid, the former Howard government recognised that advancing gender equality was essential to reducing poverty and increasing the effectiveness of aid, and that it was a stand-alone development goal. The achievements of the former Howard government and the policies of a future Abbott government are testament to the commitment of the Liberal Party to recognising, protecting and enhancing the position of and opportunities for Australian women.

I am proud to be part of a political party that understands that women in developing countries in particular need strong leaders to advocate for the economic empowerment of women. It is also critical that on their journey towards economic empowerment these women are provided with protection and support from developed nations such as Australia.

It is for this reason that the opposition announced on International Women's Day 2012 that a future coalition government will provide a guaranteed minimum of 1,000 places for women at risk and their dependants within Australia's annual humanitarian intake. We will ensure that Australia's refugee and humanitarian resettlement program provides places to those whom we can help most and those who are most in need. Women at risk and their dependants waiting in camps and other desperate places offshore are among the most vulnerable of all who seek a better life in Australia. These women have neither the means nor the opportunity to escape their circumstances and deserve to be recognised and given a very high priority—and this will be done by a coalition government in Australia's refugee and humanitarian program.

I am proud to acknowledge for the record that the highest extended period of annual intakes under the Women at Risk program was under a coalition government from 2004-05 to 2006-07, with the highest ever annual figure of 995 visas in 2005-06. Notwithstanding Labor's continued claims to support women at risk, it is a shame that under the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments the numbers in this high-risk female group have declined significantly, with just 759 Women at Risk visas granted in 2010-11.

Time constraints in the Senate today prevent me from listing all the significant milestones of the coalition's numerous achievements for women, both in the workplace and in the wider community. However, the coalition's achievements clearly demonstrate that we are committed to improving the lot of women in society because the coalition believe all Australian women and men are entitled to have an equal opportunity to contribute to society in a way that creates benefits to them, their families and their communities.

Question agreed to.