SOUTH AUSTRALIAN WOMEN

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:36): I seek to leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about the recognition of South Australian women.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: The minister has shared her insights on the representation and recognition of women with us in this chamber before. Her commitment to recognising women at the state and national level is well known. The minister's commitment has been evidenced in the establishment of the Women Hold Up Half The Sky Award, and the ongoing importance of the Women's Honour Roll. Can the minister please tell the chamber about recent recognition of women from South Australia?

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) (14:37): I thank the honourable member for her very kind words. Members might recall back in 2009 I launched an information kit which was about recognising and celebrating inspirational South Australian women.

This kit was about providing information on how to pay tribute to the outstanding achievements of women by nominating them for prestigious mainstream awards, because the figures showed us that women were very much underrepresented in the awards systems. One of the reasons for that is because women were very much underrepresented in the numbers nominating for these positions, so we set about a strategy to try to increase the number of female nominations being put forward for these important awards.

As a result of this initiative, two women who have been included in the 2009 South Australian Women's Honour Roll were nominated to become finalists in the 2013 Australian of the Year Awards—Anna Kemp and Brenda McCulloch. I am absolutely thrilled to put on record my sincere congratulations to Anna, who was last night announced as South Australia's Local Hero 2013. The Local Hero Award recognises the enormous contribution of so many Australian citizens who work to make their local community a better place, and to help those around them.

The selection of Anna and Brenda as finalists shows that the Australia's Local Hero Award recognises that many women do contribute countless hours to assist others in the community. These two women are representative of the calibre of women who are included on our Honour Roll, and I certainly commend them on this achievement that gives them national recognition for their most important work.

Anna Kemp has worked for 33 years to improve the lives of women in prison and those returning to the community. In 2006 she established the Seeds of Affinity project, a sustainable business that is a haven of social support and safety. Women involved in the project produce a range of things like soap, hand creams, body lotion and such like.

Brenda McCulloch has worked in the kitchen of the Hutt Street Centre for 17 years, serving more than one million meals to Adelaide's homeless. She engages with communities and businesses to educate about homelessness. Brenda has built ongoing sustainable relationships with food providers, restaurants, schools and community organisations. I congratulate not just our two finalists from the honour roll but all of our South Australian nominees and winners. It was certainly a wonderful achievement.

I am also absolutely delighted to advise members that nominations for the 2013 Women Hold Up Half the Sky Award open on Wednesday 10 October and will close on Friday 7 December this year. I encourage members to consider nominating an inspirational woman and to share information about the award with constituents. As members may recall, the inaugural Women Hold Up Half the Sky Award was established and presented in 2011 to acknowledge the contribution of outstanding women in our community. The award is administered by the Australia Day Council of South Australia as part of their annual Australia Day Council awards, which include the Premier's Award for Community Service and the Minister for Education's award for excellence in multiculturalism and language.

The Women Hold Up Half the Sky Award recognises and acknowledges inspirational South Australian women who have made an outstanding contribution or given outstanding service to the community in a wide range of areas. These include education, health, fundraising, charitable work, voluntary service, disability, science—you name it and women have made an outstanding contribution.

I am very pleased to advise that I will announce the 2013 award on Australia Day eve next year at Government House. The South Australian Women's Honour Roll is also important and is now held biennially to ensure that we maintain an air of prestige around the event, making it a very special event every two years. It also enables us to link directly with other celebrations of women's achievements, such as the national awards and honours. Again, I extend my congratulations to those marvellous South Australian women who have achieved so much.