International Women's Day

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:25): My question is to the Minister for Education. What activity is being undertaken by your department in schools throughout the state for this year's commemoration of International Women's Day on Monday 8 March?

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (15:26): I am very pleased to have this question from the member for Florey, and I know that she and indeed all members of the house are very much looking forward to International Women's Day, coming on Monday 8 March. Right across South Australia, we have 700 schools, 500 government schools and 200 non-government schools. Many of those schools, indeed most of those schools I would suggest, are looking to mark the occasion. Obviously, Monday is a public holiday, so some of them are doing so today, some tomorrow and some on Tuesday.

Just this morning, I was at St Peter's Girls' School, where they were hosting a forum for schools right across the eastern suburbs. Indeed, they were year 6 and year 7 students from I think pretty much every public school in the region, from Norwood Primary School—

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan: You went to a private school, as the Minister for Education. Well done, John. Well done.

The SPEAKER: Member for Lee!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —from Burnside Primary School, from Marryatville Primary School, from about six or seven public schools in the region that were able to participate in an outstanding Girls in Tech Expo, which was put on by St Peter's Girls' School at their own initiative and I commend them for doing so.

I commend Monique Green, who put that program together. Hundreds of girls from all those schools across the region were able to participate, engage with business leaders, engage with senior women in tech industries across South Australia, giving them inspiration into their own futures, the opportunity to participate in the very exciting steps forward in South Australia that we are taking in the tech industry: space, cyber and defence. All those girls and young women are going to have those opportunities.

I am really excited, and I know the member for Florey is equally as excited, about a particular development. I commend a book to all members, Muriel Matters: That Daring Australian Girl,which I believe the member for Florey is probably very familiar with as a proud founder of the Muriel Matters Society.

Ms Bedford interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: I thank the Muriel Matters Society for producing this book in the first place. I am pleased to see the member for Florey has her copy too. Every single school in South Australia is receiving one of these books. I have written to all the principals of all 700 schools this week so they can add this outstanding piece of work to their school libraries to commemorate International Women's Day 2021. I commend all members to read the book. I am sure the member for Florey will be happy to sell you a copy on behalf of the Muriel Matters Society.

It outlines that daring Australian girl who went to England and made such an extraordinary impact on the suffragist movement in England. We commemorate her work through the loan with an indefinite end date of the grille she was chained to in our Centre Hall in this parliament. All our schools around South Australia will be encouraged to know her story, as indeed English school students who attend the education program at Westminster are able to when they go through the education program in the Westminster parliament. They see the video, they hear the Australian accent of the suffragist leader, they ask questions and they are told about Muriel's story.

We are doing work in the education department to ensure that, as we are delivering lesson plans and scope and sequence documents through the Department for Education that are now being made available schools in the high school HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences) program, that Muriel's story is told as part of that so all students across South Australia are made aware of that.

Indeed, I am really pleased that, on your initiative as Speaker of the House, sir, the education department will work with you as the Speaker on a Muriel Matters award that will be made available to schools across South Australia to particularly encourage girls and young women to be leaders, to celebrate the International Women's Day theme, as we are describing it in the education department, shining a light on our future leaders.