Women Hold Up Half The Sky Awards

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (16:21): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about acknowledging the role women play within the community.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: Expanding the acknowledgement of the role women play within the community sits within the strategic priority Safe Communities, Healthy Neighbourhoods. Minister, will you update the chamber about this year's Women Hold Up Half The Sky Awards?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (16:21): I thank the honourable member for his question and his ongoing interest in supporting women. At the Australia Day Award presentations on 23 January this year, I was proud to present the Women Hold Up Half the Sky Award to Ms Michelle Sibbons. The award is provided by me, as Minister for the Status of Women, and the Office for Women, and administered by the Australia Day Council of South Australia.

This is the fifth year that this award has been presented, as an award which acknowledges the outstanding contribution for women in our community. Again, this year the Australia Day Council of South Australia received high-quality nominations for this particular award from quite a diverse range of different women. The 2015 award is being awarded to Ms Michelle Sibbons for her commitment, in a voluntary capacity, to educing and supporting families with children suffering from congenital melanocytic nevus (CMN).

Michelle's daughter was born with CMN, and Michelle struggled for information—it is quite a rare condition and there is not a lot known about it—about the rare diagnosis, which led her to develop a website and support groups for other Australian parents and children in a similar position. Michelle is seen as a non-medical expert with regard to CMN and has organised multiple conferences which have been attended by families from around Australia and the globe.

Michelle stood out above many amazing applicants as her service to the community is completely voluntary and reliant on donations, and is not associated with her job or career. She has educated herself about this little-known disease and shares that knowledge freely and extensively with other families learning about CMN, and has grown her online support group to encompass all of Australia and have a global outreach.

Michelle has coordinated conferences that have attracted visitors from across the globe, and volunteers as a board member with Naevus Global, which is beyond her own service here in Australia. She has recognised the need for people with CMN to meet each other and has created spaces for young people with CMN to share their experiences and learn from each other while making friends. This condition often leaves people with skin blemishes and disfigurements and can be quite confronting and difficult, particularly for young people.

I also provided a commendation this year for Karyn Bradford for her community work in her role as executive officer of the Milang and District Community Association and her ongoing commitment outside of work to her local community. Karyn has been a very active member of the statewide network of community and neighbourhood centres for more than 10 years, and two of these were as a board member of Community Centres South Australia Inc., at a time when the sector was leading introduction of outcomes-focused methodology as a planning, evaluation and continuous improvement tool and opportunities for adults to reengage in learning pathways. The third area was initiatives based on community conversations with shared outcomes identified and agreed by the community.

Karyn is a strong supporter of developing the country region and has demonstrated leadership in country centres, including a significant contribution to mentoring new staff. It certainly gave me great pleasure to support and present this award. I congratulate both Michelle and Karyn on their achievements within our community.