Federal Minister for Women

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:50): I rise to speak about our federal Minister for Women, Tony. Not Toni with an 'i' that might suggest that this person holding this office is appropriately a woman, but no, Tony with a 'y', a man who is the minister for the women of Australia. Interesting and troublesome and, given his thoughts on women and the disadvantage he has caused to women through his cruel cuts and failure to understand how to secure gender equality, disturbing.

Why indeed would our Prime Minister not understand that in a modern, educated nation which purports to advance the rights of women that it is crucial for women to have control over their own lives and be advanced into significant positions like the Minister for Women to strengthen our collective women's voice?

I share some thoughts from the Minister for Women about the women he purports to represent. He expressed his disbelief that women will ever achieve equality with men, apparently backed by some strain of scientific evidence, when he said:

I think it would be folly to expect that women will ever dominate or even approach equal representation in a large number of areas simply because their aptitudes, abilities and interests are different for physiological reasons.

On sex he said:

I think there does need to be give and take on both sides, and this idea that sex is kind of a woman's right to absolutely withhold, just as the idea that sex is a man's right to demand I think are both, they both need to be moderated...

On whose responsibility are household chores he espoused:

What the housewives of Australia need to understand as they do the ironing is that if they get it done commercially it's going to go up in price and their own power bills when they switch the iron on are going to go up.

Perhaps this is what underpinned his recent nomination of repealing the carbon tax as his greatest achievement as Minister for Women saying women are particularly focused on the household budget. During his election campaign, he described a female candidate as having sex appeal and encouraged Big Brother contestants to vote for him as the guy with the not bad looking daughters.

The Minister for Women's words come from a time far away and disturbingly from a deep-seated place of assumption and judgement about how women should be viewed and what they should engage in. His actions in relation to women unfortunately affirm his negative beliefs. He has done nothing to advance our cause and everything to see women take a giant step away from equality.

With violence perpetrated against women by a partner now the leading cause of death, disability and ill health amongst Australian women aged between 15 and 44, it is astonishing the Minister for Women has cut $44 million from homelessness services. The low income superannuation contribution for workers earning less than $37,000 a year is cut, negatively impacting 2.1 million women or the retirement savings of almost one in two women.

On the question of income, the previous Labor government wholeheartedly supported equal pay for community workers, but the Minister for Women has unfortunately backed away from similar provisions for childcare workers, the majority of whom are women. If you are a girl in the developing world your first step into education is a doorway to a better life—

Mr Whetstone interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member for Chaffey has already been called to order.

Ms HILDYARD: —a doorway made possible through Australian aid. With the cruel 20 per cent cut in Australian aid that chance has been taken away. Plan International identifies girls in developing countries as the biggest losers, with a projected 220,000 fewer girls enrolling in school.

Australian Opals star, Lauren Jackson, called out the Liberal government about its cuts to the ABC which will result in the cutting of their coverage of women's basketball and soccer. Lauren voiced her fears when budget cuts to the ABC of $254 million were made saying women's sport had become a 'sacrificial lamb'—

Members interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! The member for Mitchell already has one warning.

Ms HILDYARD: —and that it was a 'very dark day for women's sport'. She also said, 'The Liberal government doesn't really put sport ahead of anything else, especially women's sport.'

We need a minister for women who stands up for women and does not speak or act in a way which diminishes us. That person should be a woman. Tony Abbott is not my minister for women, and there are millions of Australian women who feel the same way. I wholeheartedly congratulate National Australian Young Labor Women's Officer, Hannah MacLeod, and Senator Penny Wong on organising the launch on behalf of the women of Australia of the new organisation, Not My Minister for Women, last week.