INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF WOMEN ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS

Ms THOMPSON (Reynell) (16:08): I rise today to draw the house's attention to the recent International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists, which was held at the Convention Centre. This is the 15^th international conference and it was a great victory for South Australia to secure this important event. I thank Marlene Kanga and Ha Do, who were the co-chairs of the organising committee, for the work that they put in to bringing the conference to Adelaide as well as the superb organisation of the conference.

I note that among the eminent people involved in the organisation of the conference was the Hon. Trish White, former member for Taylor, who is the chair of the advisory committee. The organising committee reads like a who's who of women in particular who have leading roles in science and engineering in Australia. It was indeed an international gathering, with delegates from Kuwait, Nigeria, Korea, Mexico, United Kingdom, Canada, Bangladesh, Germany, Ghana, Japan, United States and Taiwan. I recall delegates from Brazil, Spain, Congo, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Zambia and Mongolia, as well as of course our near neighbours, New Zealand. I undertook some duties at the conference in place of minister Gago who was not able to attend and it was indeed a pleasure to do so.

The women were clearly committed to their profession and committed to having more women involved in engineering and science. They told me that generally they find that women seek to use the skills in engineering and science in ways that benefit humanity and the environment. On occasions this may not be directly through their work but through their volunteer work in using their scientific skills, for instance, to look at more flexible working hours in a particular manufacturing plant in Monterrey in Mexico.

The keynote speakers were extremely impressive. One of them was Dame Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell DBE FRS FRSE from Oxford University. Dame Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell is a distinguished astrophysicist based in the UK. As a postgraduate student she worked on the discovery of the first radio pulses but missed out on the Nobel Prize for physics which was awarded to her supervisor. She is the current president of the Institute of Physics, UK, the first woman in that role.

Dr Maria Jesús Prieto-Laffargue from the World Federation of Engineering Organisations in Spain is a telecommunications engineer, the first woman to be president of the World Federation of Engineering Organisations. She is a prominent figure in the international arena of communications technology and international business. Dr Laffargue has served on several boards advising national and international companies and organisations in telecommunications, energy, aerospace and transportation. Dr Laffargue has been a delegate of the Spanish government to several European and world organisations. She has served and is currently active in a group of select experts preparing for the United Nations work on the summit on sustainable development.

Just reading the information about the conference gives an insight to the exciting careers that are available for women in science and engineering. There was a lot of discussion about what changes might need to be made to those professions to make them more compatible with the combined responsibilities women still have. It was very interesting that the delegates from Kuwait told me that 50 per cent of their intake into engineering and science is now women. Some of these delegates were wearing a headscarf and we have the view that they are not as progressive as we are. They are beating us.