Women's Honour Roll Inductees

The Hon. J.S. LEE (14:34): My question is to the Minister for Human Services about celebrating remarkable South Australian women. Can the minister please provide an update to the council about the recent inductees to the South Australian Women's Honour Roll?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (14:35): I thank the honourable member for her question and for her interest in this area. Last Thursday, 21 November, we had the biannual nominees recognised for the South Australian Women's Honour Roll. These awards have been established since 2008 by the Office for Women, and the inductees are decided by a panel of community members. They were recognised at an event at Government House, and I acknowledge the member for Reynell and the member for Hurtle Vale, who were in attendance, as well as the Assistant Minister for Domestic and Family Violence Prevention, Mrs Carolyn Power; and there may have been other members in attendance as well.

It is a great celebration of these fantastic women for the things that they have done for their community. It is well known that women often do not expect reward for the things that they do for their communities and they are often very appreciative of being nominated and receiving some recognition. The South Australian Women's Honour Roll citations are often used if people are subsequently nominated for the Australia Day award honours.

We did have 25 nominees. I would like to outline a few who are probably relatively well known to members of this place. That includes Associate Professor Barbara Baird, who is an LGBTIQ activist and has been advocating in favour of abortion reform. Of course, we have the late Viv Maher, the mother of the Hon. Kyam Maher, the leader of the Labor Party in this place, who was recognised for her dedication to equality for women and for young Indigenous people. I understand that she ran a shelter in Mount Gambier for some time.

We also had Professor Eva Bezak, who works in the field of medical physics; Dr Jenni Caruso, who is an advocate and educator of Aboriginal history; the late Alice Dixon, who has been a defender of the rights of Aboriginal people and campaigned against Aboriginal deaths in custody; Emmah Evans, who has also been acknowledged in a range of forums for her advocacy for cystic fibrosis and adoption; Leah Marrone, who also is well known to many people in this place, who uses her legal skills to advocate for social justice; Louise Pascale, who is also a campaigner for gender equality; Deb Ranieri, who is a crusader for women experiencing homelessness; and Jennifer Howard, who assists people who need their pets sat, for want of a better word.

We had a wonderful range of women who have been added to the roll. They all deserve great recognition and we wish them well in all of their future endeavours.