Grievance Debate

International Women's Day Community Awards

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:18): I rise as shadow minister for the status of women to speak about some outstanding girls and women in our community and to express my commitment to work as hard and as passionately as I can to empower South Australian girls and women in every aspect of community life and to positively resolve issues they encounter. Today, as we are just hours away from a federal budget, I focus on the issue of the tampon tax. Last week, our Leader of the Opposition rightly wrote to the Premier urging him to support the removal of this tax and to raise the issue with the federal government. If you have not yet done this, Mr Premier, I am your reminder.

Women have been charged GST on sanitary products because they have been deemed non-essential items. Every woman, and indeed every man who has had to do an emergency run to the shop for their partner, daughter or sister, knows that this is ridiculous. Items women need to buy month after month, year after year, because of their gender are, of course, essential items.

This unfair and unjust tax is particularly hard on women on low incomes and girls in low income families because it is an unavoidable and relentless cost to be budgeted for month after month. It might not seem like a lot of money to some, but there can be up to 40 years between a woman's first period and her last, and the cost of dealing with this all adds up. I am proud to stand with my Labor colleagues across the country to ask for this discriminatory tax to end, and I ask those opposite to stand with us.

The Marshall government must help make a change and recognise pads and tampons for what they are—essential health products. I urge the Premier and every member on that side of the house to please call your mates in Canberra this afternoon and demand that tonight's budget includes the removal of GST from sanitary products.

I now take the opportunity to recognise some of the big-hearted women of the south. Last Thursday, I held my annual International Women's Day dinner and community awards for women in the south—a little later than usual this year, given our extra Mad March—to recognise the remarkable generosity of women who give to our community in ways that largely go unrecognised.

Our youngest award recipient was nine-year-old Jenna Turner, a kind girl who always thinks of how she can help others and does so no matter what is happening in her own life. Jenna is a member of the beautiful Turner family who, together, make sure that Jenna's brother, Josh, who regularly travels to Melbourne for medical treatment for an ongoing serious condition, is enabled to lead a happy and active life. Jenna is selfless in her support of Josh and is his biggest cheerleader, fiercest advocate and most supportive confidante. As well as the support she gives to her own family, Jenna takes the time to regularly visit an elderly woman in her street to offer her assistance with housework and other tasks.

Twenty-two-year-old Eden Treloar is the chairperson of the Port Noarlunga Sea Scout Group and has been since 2014. She is also the events coordinator and has raised over $3,000 for the group. Eden is a member of the Scouts South Australia Inclusion and Diversity working group, and she assists at events, including the ANZAC youth vigil and Butterfly Walk.

Julia Mustac has set up a reading room at Morphett Vale Primary School to ensure that children who do not get to read to someone at home can read to an adult every day. She has organised more than 40 volunteers, decorated a room, planned rosters and built a mechanism to track the progress of young readers.

Rosemary Roe has been a dedicated Christies Beach Football Club administrator for over 20 years and has assisted thousands of parents to register their kids in time for the first game of each season. Rosemary is instrumental in the running of home match days, with Saturdays starting as early as 7:30am and not finishing until after 8pm presentations.

Belinda Howden of the Southern Football League and Heidi Condon, Monique Dean and Wendy Atkinson of the O'Sullivan Beach Lonsdale Football Club were rightly recognised also for their contribution to football, and particularly for the extraordinary growth of girls' and women's football in our southern community.

Margaret Wilsher has been a supportive, encouraging and positive friend to many. She moved to our southern community over 30 years ago and has supported women in the south over decades to get the support they need when dealing with domestic violence. In more recent times, Margaret has been a volunteer with the Royal Society for the Blind, enabling community members with vision impairment to attend events.

Sandra Buttery, from the Zonta Club, has given more than 10 years' service to domestic violence services in the south. She is the main organiser of toiletry bags, Christmas presents and children's gifts for mothers who have fled domestic violence. Congratulations and thank you to all the remarkable women in our beautiful southern suburbs who give of their time, energy and heart to make our community the very special place that it is.

Time expired.