WOMEN'S HONOUR ROLL

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:12): My question is to the—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. R.I. Lucas interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Lucas should leave the council if he cannot be quiet.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Will the Minister for the Status of Women provide information about the South Australian Women's Honour Roll?

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: I note that the crossbenches are getting rather annoyed with the opposition. Members are continuously disrupting question time and therefore they are not getting to their questions. We might have to do something about that.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (15:13): I am very pleased to announce that I opened the nominations for the 2009 South Australian Women's Honour Roll at the International Women's Day luncheon which was held today. I was very pleased to note that the Hon. Michelle Lensink was present at that luncheon, as was the member for Florey, Francis Bedford.

The Women's Honour Roll celebrates women who are passionate and committed to assist in making our community a better place. The 2009 roll will build on the success of the 2008 roll, when over 140 women were nominated, and will acknowledge women who have not previously been recognised. The honour roll is an ongoing initiative. One hundred women will be added to the South Australian Women's Honour Roll and, from these 100 women, 10 will be highlighted for their extraordinary contribution. Nominations will close on Friday 5 June, and the honour roll recipients will be announced later in the year.

As I have mentioned previously, I am also very keen to ensure that more of the state's outstanding women are put forward for national and state public accolades. It is disappointing to see that there are still more men than women being recognised in these awards. Between 1999 and 2008, men accounted for around 68 per cent of those honoured within the general division of Order of Australia. The key reason for this is that more men than women have been nominated, therefore there have been more male honours recipients. That is why it is important to ensure that women are nominated for these awards.

Obviously, there are thousands of women across South Australia who are worthy recipients of our nation's top awards, and it is our challenge as a community to ensure that they are recognised. The Governor and Mrs Scarce, who hosted the 2009 Australia Day Awards function at Government House, have also indicated their commitment to promoting South Australians for national awards.

I believe that the South Australian Women's Honour Roll provides an ideal opportunity for women to be acknowledged by their local community, and it will profile the wonderful work that women do. I look forward to seeing many women on the South Australian Women's Honour Roll being nominated for national awards and honours.