Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In September 1881 a 260-metre-long petition was tabled in the Victorian parliament. The petition, which was glued to fabric backing and secured with cardboard spools, recorded 30,000 signatures of women from all walks of life; that was equivalent to one per cent of the population at the time. Every single pen to paper was a separate call for the right for women to vote on equal terms with men. A document of such size, both in significance and in physical form, is a testament to the enormous change that was spurred from collective effort. It was four years before South Australia gave the first woman the right to vote, and it was not until 1902 that non-Indigenous women across Australia were granted equal voting rights with men.

The gender equality time line is marked by events of immense passion, collective determination and, often, gruellingly slow change. This is the reality that we are faced with—historical moments, petitions, uprisings, marches and speeches. These moments ignite the flame of progress. But from there it's a slow and steady burn to reform. The weighty mechanics of our society and of our institutions do not change overnight, but continuous and united efforts spark incremental change that leads to transformative outcomes.

In 2021 we marked the centennial of Edith Cowan's election to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. Her influence is still felt in the House today. In dark and uncharted waters she is the light that has guided the women who have worked tirelessly under this roof for the last 100 years, and her legacy remains strong. Today there are more women in parliament than ever before. All of these women play vital roles in the mechanics of government, and many are leading our most critical portfolios. Ministers like Marise Payne, Linda Reynolds, Anne Ruston, Karen Andrews and Michaelia Cash, among others, have been at the coalface of this government's successful response to the unprecedented challenges brought on by COVID-19. Time and time again we have borne witness to great government policy and politics depending on both men and women being at the table.

In the 2019 federal election 50 per cent of the coalition members and senators newly elected to join the Morrison government were women. In September 2019 the Senate overall achieved gender balance. Yet, on the 100-year anniversary of Edith Cowan's election, we are in a climate of heightened focus on inequality, and we are reminded that although we have come so far there is still so much more to do. Today, men still make up 141 of our 227 seats, which is just over 62 per cent of our federal parliament. In 2021 Australia's gender pay gap is 13.4 per cent, and men earn on average around $243 a week more than women. One in five women have been sexually assaulted in their adult lives. In 2018, 97 per cent of incidences of sexual assault were committed by men.

Data forms a hard and empirical foundation to galvanise rational policy developments and reform. In Parliament House my friend and colleague Minister Reynolds has quietly tracked the progress of women in government. Her data mine tracks the progress of all Australian political parties over many years. It tracks seniority and promotion time lines and pipelines. It tracks the gender pay gap. It tracks our position compared to that of our international counterparts—where we have gone right and where we have fallen short. Minister Reynolds compiles this data to provide frameworks for reform—data and facts that feed and signal priorities. Minister Reynolds does this because she is and has always been a fierce advocate for women, for women's rights and for women's progress.

These critical moments in history, like those we have seen in recent weeks, are diluted by political agendas. Sexual assault is not a political issue. Throwing stones at parliamentary figures does not address the rot. Gender inequality, sexual abuse—these are societal issues. As Brittany Higgins bravely said yesterday, these are human issues. The collective momentum that we see today is the same momentum that led to women gaining the rights to attend university and to vote. In 1962 we righted the wrong of excluding Indigenous women, indeed all Indigenous Australians, from the right to vote. That same momentum carried us to 1972, when a million Australian women were granted equal pay. In 1976 decades of marches and protests led to states across Australia beginning to criminalise rape in marriage. In 1994 the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act, in 1999 the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act, in 2011 the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children—the list goes on. In 2018 the Women's Economic Security Statement—the inaugural women's economic security statement—provided more than $100 million dedicated to practical measures to support women's economic empowerment. And in 2019 this government delivered $340 million in funding to the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.

These are issues that have been fought by brave women collectively. The changes we have seen in this country have been at the hands of different governments, different leaders, different organisations, different community groups—different ideologies but one clear direction forward. This government and all of its ministers stand with Australians to make change, to continue the momentum that we have witnessed across history and to make Australia an equal place for women.