WOMEN, SUPPORT

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:09): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about supporting women in the community.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS: I know the honourable minister is very committed to supporting women in all their diversity in our community. Will the minister tell the chamber about what is being done to support women in the community?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:10): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. As Minister for the Status of Women, I believe that it is important to support women in a range of organisations to undertake capacity building and engagement with their communities and, for many initiatives, a small amount of assistance often leads to a very big impact on that community.

I have spoken before of the assistance provided in the 2011-12 financial year to Women in Agriculture and Business. I recently announced a one-off grant of $10,000 to enable this group to provide technology workshops to women living in rural and remote areas, enabling them to keep in touch, to exchange news and also to network. These workshops will provide women with valuable tools to enable them to expand the reach of WAB across the state and to further engage with women in the online environment.

I was also pleased to hear recently about the work undertaken by the South Australian Feminist Collective to engage with young women in our community. The collective has a very active Facebook page, which includes interactive forums, and I understand that a range of issues relevant to feminism are discussed there. I have been told that the page has seen discussions on pay equity, reproductive issues and different schools of feminist thought.

The collective also holds regular meetings, which I understand are well attended. I understand that some fairly lively debate occurs around some of the meetings as well. I believe that it is important that young women are able to have a say on issues that affect their future and that they are able to participate in the community. I am delighted with the level of engagement the collective has already achieved, and I have every confidence that this grant will allow them to engage with even more young women on feminist issues.

To assist with the establishment of events and programs for young women, I have provided just under $3,400 to the collective. The funds will be particularly useful for increasing its online interactive engagement in our increasingly digitised world. I understand that, along with its current Facebook forum, the collective will be establishing an interactive website. Young women are often already well versed in the range of interactive and electronic forms and forums, so I certainly await with interest to learn how the collective will use innovative methods to increase its presence online.

The work of the collective includes the establishment of a diversity officer to ensure that young women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and those from an Aboriginal or Torrens Strait Islander background, are engaged. I am sure that all members would agree that it is important that the voices of all young women are heard. I understand that the collective will be holding a range of forums across all university campuses about issues that affect young women and diversity.

The Office for Women also recently provided some funding members might be interested in. As members would know, I believe that it is vital that women's diverse roles within our community are acknowledged and celebrated. Every year for the past 50 years, SAPOL has held its annual Women in Policing luncheon to ensure that the extraordinary contributions of women who have served in South Australia Police, past and present, are recognised. The luncheons are organised by the Women in Policing Committee. It is an important event that provides an opportunity for women police officers to be acknowledged and to celebrate the work they do. As I have said, I have been delighted to be able to provide funding to a wide range of diverse organisations, all of which in some way recognise the importance of women and women's issues to our broader community.