WOMEN IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (14:57): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for State/Local Government Relations a question about women in local government.

Leave granted.

Members interjecting:

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: Members opposite ask whether I know any—women, that is. There is something I do know, and that is that the Liberal Party's attitude to women makes the Adelaide Club look positively advanced—five out of 25 members of the state parliament and one is about to leave, and one out of 10 federals, and you are trying to knock her off.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: You've got five in here, and one of those is on her way out.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! When the President stands up, there will be order. Let us get back to the question, the Hon. Mr Finnigan, and let us cease exciting the opposition.

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN: I understand that the Local Government and Planning Ministers Council met recently and discussed local government workforce needs into the 21^st century. Will the minister advise the council how the Local Government and Planning Ministers Council is contributing to increased participation by women in local government in South Australia?

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) (14:58): I thank the honourable member for his important question and also for his insight into these matters, particularly in relation to the differences between Liberal Party performance and that of Labor in terms of its position on women in parliament. Anyway, for the time being, I will stick to the issue of women in local government.

I am delighted to advise the council that participation of women in local government was recently considered by the Local Government and Planning Ministers Council. This important forum brings together the three spheres of government. It comprises the commonwealth, state and territory local government and planning ministers and the national representative of local government, the Australian Local Government Association. It is a great way to progress initiatives and policies that will work across all jurisdictions.

Members may be aware that a looming issue for all of us is the reality of demographic change and concomitant workforce shortage, an issue that is obviously very topical for local government. Of course, in South Australia, we are already planning for this through the South Australian Strategic Plan. Target 6.23, Women in Leadership and Diversity in the Public Sector, is aimed at increasing women's participation in executive positions, and local government is one pathway to achieve this change.

Australia wide, only 20 per cent of local government senior management roles are filled by women and a mere 7 per cent of council chief executive officers are women. These extremely disappointing statistics are reflected in South Australia, too: 16 per cent of senior managers are women and only four councils—Kangaroo Island, Tea Tree Gully, Mitcham and Walkerville—have a female chief executive officer. With figures like that, one can only look forward to improvement.

This gender disparity is unacceptable and the government is already working with the sector to lift the participation of women. We have supported the establishment of a South Australian branch of the Australian Local Government Women's Association, sponsored both the National Conference on Women in Local Government in Adelaide in April 2009 and an Award for Excellence in Advancing the Status of Women in Local Government, first, in April 2008 and then again this year.

By endorsing the development of a national local government workforce strategy, our efforts will now be boosted by all jurisdictions working together to attempt to raise the bar. The draft workforce strategy focuses on attraction, retention and skills development in local government bodies. It considers broader issues such as an ageing workforce, shifting populations away from rural and remote regions and increasing competition for professional staff.

Key elements of the strategy are to grow the pool of highly skilled and specialist employees needed to staff councils in the future by attracting groups who are currently underrepresented in that sector. The draft strategy is a tool for consulting with state and local governments and local government associations. It poses a series of questions to identify the people who will be needed in this sector in the future and directs attention to the means of achieving change.

It is an important initiative, and I am keen to develop the strategies to eliminate barriers to women participating in local government both in senior positions and also as elected members. The commonwealth government has also announced an additional $490,000 to support improved participation by women in this important sector through things like scholarships, leadership and mentoring programs and also improved data collection.

South Australia is supporting and participating in that work, and it is abundantly clear that current participation by women in leadership roles in local government does not represent gender balance. We know, of course, that gender balance is not just the right thing to do but it is actually the smart thing to do in terms of good business. Women are an increasingly educated and skilled segment of the labour pool and are enthusiastic about self-education to get ahead. As half of the talent pool, it is clear that women should be at the forefront.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I want to ensure that women are developed and encouraged to aspire to influential positions and I am heartened by the renewed focus to address this issue by the jurisdictions working collaboratively. Culture change within local government, flexible working conditions and measures to attract and retain these valuable employees are the prime tasks for the sector.

A new national local government centre for excellence headed by Professor Graham Sansom will be the vehicle to refine the strategy and will be consulting with local government and the Office for State/Local Government Relations in the coming months. I certainly congratulate the Local Government Ministerial Council and the Australian government on taking this initiative leading up to the national Year of Women in Local Government in 2010.

I look forward to the outcomes of that project and, of course, we certainly congratulate the Rann Labor government on its performance in terms of its number of women in parliament. Labor currently has 15 women in the South Australian parliament; the Liberals have five.