WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:35): I seek leave to ask the Minister for the Status of Women a question regarding the Premier's Women's Directory and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The Premier's Women's Directory is an online resource of women who are seeking appointment to boards and committees. The government has also supported women who are seeking positions on boards and committees by offering scholarships through the AICD. My question to the minister is: can the minister update us on the Premier's Women's Directory and the AICD Scholarships?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:36): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. The Premier's Women's Directory is a key tool that has assisted the state government to improve women's representation on boards and committees. Since its launch in August 2004, this online resource has promoted women to those responsible for putting forward candidates for appointment to boards and committees.

The PWD has enjoyed enormous success, and as of June 2013 the Premier's Women's Directory contains the CVs of over 850 applicants or nominations. This is a significant increase from 450 in July 2007 and includes 20 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, 22 women with disability, 91 women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and 149 women are from regional areas. The directory is accessed by password, of which approximately 460 have been issued to date. The passwords are obtained on request from the Office for Women to those seeking women for board appointment.

I am pleased to be able to advise today that the Premier's Women's Directory will be moving to a completely online system. This change means that women will now be able to register for the directory online; those current members of the directory can update, edit and view their data, and this ensures that those who are searching the directory for candidates will have the most up-to-date details. The Office for Women will continue the maintenance of the database and approve all adjustments and new submissions before these are made live.

The update to PWD ties in closely with other work the Office for Women is doing to promote women's networking online. In September 2012, the Office for Women established a LinkedIn group for members of the directory. This group provides a forum for women to discuss issues associated with being on boards. It is a place where they can share ideas and information about issues associated with women's leadership and board aspirations. Information on events and board vacancies are also shared in this forum. The LinkedIn group has proved to be popular with more than 100 women joining in less than 24 hours. As of June 2013, the group had 268 members. An additional 60 women, who are not currently registered on the directory, have sought information on how to register via the LinkedIn group.

In keeping with this government's commitment to ensuring that South Australia continues to be one of the leading jurisdictions in Australia for the inclusion of women on boards and committees, I am also pleased to announce today the successful applicants for the Australian Institute of Company Director Scholarships who have been selected. The Australian Institute of Company Directors is an internationally recognised, member-based, not-for-profit organisation for directors, and its principal activities include education, conducting professional development programs and events for boards and directors, producing publications, etc.

The Premier and I previously announced 25 scholarships, and the nomination process showed a high amount of interest among women. I think there were something like 300 expressions of interest and almost 100 applicants. I am further advised that the successful applicants are currently in the process of being notified, including women from CALD backgrounds, Aboriginal women, regional women and those other priority groups.

These differing programs highlight this government's commitment not just to increasing representation of women on boards and committees but also to ensuring that women have access to training programs. This is of particular importance to those women who, for very good reasons, might not have this opportunity. I would like to congratulate the Office for Women on its work on both of these initiatives, along with extending my congratulations to the successful applicants for the scholarships.