Motions

International Day of Rural Women

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (16:57): I move:

That this council—

1. Acknowledges that 15 October is the International Day of Rural Women;

2. Recognises the critical role and contribution of rural women, including Indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty; and

3. Commends the many valuable contributions of rural and regional women to South Australia.

It gives me great pleasure to move this motion here today, acknowledging that tomorrow, 15 October, is the International Day of Rural Woman. In moving this motion, I want to speak about why it is vital that we celebrate women's contribution to primary industry and agribusiness in South Australia.

Women have always been critical contributors to agriculture and food production in South Australia and across the country; however, historically their contributions have been undervalued. The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics census data revealed that there was 85,681 farming businesses in Australia, with an overall value of some $56 billion in agricultural production.

While only 22 per cent of farmers are registered as being female, a recent report commissioned by AgriFutures Australia showed that women contribute nearly half of the total real farm income. They contribute 48 per cent of total real farm income in Australia.

Women have always worked on the land in Australia. For more than 50,000 years Indigenous woman cared for the land and fed their families. In South Australia, since white settlement in 1836 women have worked alongside men on farms, but their role and contribution has not always been acknowledged.

The lack of acknowledgement goes back many years. Prior to the 1970s women’s access to agricultural training and education was severely limited, and in some cases women were banned from enrolling in agricultural colleges.

Census data did not register farm women, and they were denied land rights and were also prohibited from inheriting their family farms. That continues perhaps not in law but often in practice. One of my high school friends was a member of a farming family in the South-East. When the second of her surviving parents died—so she had lost both parents by then—the farm went to her brother. There were three girls and the one son.

They had known that that would happen, but the brother and his wife then sold the farm, so the expressed intention of the parents, that the farm would continue within the family (and they thought that by passing it to the son that would ensure that it happened) did not happen. There remains bitterness and sadness in that family because two of the three girls would have been more than happy to take over that property and continue to farm it.

However, during the 1980s and the 1990s, progressive changes emerged as a result of the Australian Rural Women's Movement, which provided rural women with a platform to meet, to campaign and to gain recognition. This set the groundwork for significant reform, and in 1994 women were finally legally recognised as farmers by the Australian Law Reform Commission, according to my advice. Coupled with the changes in the Australian agricultural education system, and opportunities which have also been broadened, the visibility of women in agricultural training and industry programs has increased.

Modern-day farmers are now experts in plants and animals, business management and marketing. They are equipped with the decision-making skills to improve profitability, reduce costs and increase overall production. We are seeing more women taking on higher education in the technical and scientific fields of agriculture. Agribusinesses are starting to realise that organisations with a more diverse leadership team will perform better. Closing the gender gap will increase productivity through enabling women to engage in decision-making, contributing to the industry and the development of the wider economy.

There are now many female agronomists, scientists and growers. It is heartening to see that more women are now taking on those leadership roles. Primary production is a vital part of the state's economy. Under the previous state Labor government South Australia's gross revenue for food and wine reached a record high of almost $20 billion in 2016-17, but of course farming is a challenging industry, subject to the vagaries of weather, international markets and unpredictable commodity prices.

The industry must deal with natural disasters and changes in international conditions, something particularly relevant for everyone this year with COVID. Women in regional areas deal with all of this, as well as personal challenges, sickness, death, separations, and more, often without the same level of access to services that is available in metropolitan areas.

As a regional woman I have spoken before in this place about the wonderful sense of community I have the privilege to experience. In my local community of Port MacDonnell there is friendship, there is support, there is giving for the good of the community, and that became even more clear during COVID this year. Another issue that became even more clear was that of food security, and the role of rural women in improving food security is highlighted in this motion.

I would like particularly to acknowledge one of the women who is combating food insecurity in our Limestone Coast region: Lynne Neshoda from Foodbank. Lynne has been with Foodbank I think for about three years now as manager, and she is instrumental in ensuring that that organisation goes some way to meeting the needs of our local community. Foodbank, I am sure many members are aware, involves the growers, manufacturers and processors who produce quantities of food that cannot be sold for various reasons, instead redistributing that surplus food to those in need.

Lynne is not only totally dedicated to Foodbank in Mount Gambier but is also very much involved in the wider issues affecting those who are disadvantaged. For example, at a recent public transport forum, which I was pleased to be able to attend and be involved in, Lynne was able to talk about the basic issues affecting people in need, for example the fact that the bus service in Mount Gambier does not go near Foodbank. So those who are most disadvantaged have very little opportunity to access necessary food through Foodbank, without spending potentially several hours—and I am not exaggerating—to get to Foodbank and then to return.

The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15 October 2008, with the new date recognising 'the critical role and contribution of rural women'. Many of those things in today's motion were also the guiding principles when it was first established. The International Day of Rural Women was created to inspire rural women to share stories, stories of women who are real, who are emphatic, stories from the farmers, from the stay-at-home mothers, from the regional educational and health professionals and regional community members.

I am delighted that the Woman in Business and Regional Development in the Limestone Coast are hosting an event this Friday to celebrate International Day of Rural Women, and I do wish I could be there. However, I wish them well. Members will gather to consider and reflect on the positive and inspiring women in our community, to celebrate, to inspire and to encourage. I am aware that the South Australian Country Women's Association is having a walk and dinner at Uraidla tomorrow night to mark the occasion. I also wish them well for that event and all celebrations across the state and the country to celebrate this important day. I commend the motion to the chamber.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. T.J. Stephens.