INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (14:27): My question is directed to the Premier. Can the Premier inform the house about International Women's Day and how this year's theme of economic empowerment relates to women in leadership positions in South Australia?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development) (14:27): I thank the honourable member for her question. Of course, each year on 8 March, International Women's Day is celebrated around the world, and it is a day of recognition of the extraordinary economic, social and political achievements of women. The 2012 theme was supporting women's economic empowerment. The International Women's Day breakfast, held in Adelaide for UN Women Australia, is the biggest in the country with over 2,000 women attending this very popular event.

This year we heard an inspirational story from young Asian-Australian writer Alice Pung. She told a story about economic empowerment which actually focused on her mother. It was the story of her complete lack of power but the way she took that to inspire both her daughter and other women. Economic empowerment is a theme that is central to the advancement of women globally, just as it is here in South Australia.

The government is addressing this in a range of ways by encouraging the number of women participating in public life and, in particular, leadership positions to grow. The Strategic Plan targets a number of areas to increase and obviously we have set the natural target of 50 per cent of these positions by 2014 and we have made some very substantial progress towards these targets.

As at 1 February 2012, women held nearly 46 per cent of positions on state government boards and committees. This represents an increase of over 12 points since April 2004. In this same time frame, there has been an increase of over 12 percentage points to 36 per cent in women holding chair positions on state government boards and committees. There has also been a notable increase in women in executive positions in South Australia—a change from 29.4 per cent in 2003 to 43.1 per cent as of June 2011. This is an increase of around one-third.

Improvement in women candidates in representation in local government is also an element. A record of 362 women, or 28.4 per cent of candidates, nominated as candidates in the 2010 local government elections.

In terms of the South Australian parliament, with the recent addition of the members for Port Adelaide and Ramsay, the Labor Party now has a total of 13 women in the South Australian parliament—that is 39 per cent of government members. There is still room for improvement.

Mr Pisoni: We've got a woman leader.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We have a leader in the upper house. International Women's Day is an important reminder of the vast potential and contribution of women across the world and here in South Australia. It is all of our responsibility to help ensure that this potential is recognised and that women are supported in achieving leadership positions as well as advancing their careers.