Gender Equality Bill

Introduction and First Reading

The Hon. C. BONAROS (17:41): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to establish the office of the Commissioner for Gender Equality, to require certain entities to promote gender equality in the development of programs and delivery of services, to provide that certain entities prepare and implement an action plan to achieve gender equality in the workplace, to make a related amendment to the Fair Work Act 1994 and for other purposes. Read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. C. BONAROS (17:42): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

As South Australians we pride ourselves on a strong history of freedom, respect, dignity, tolerance and equality and the bill provides for an opportunity for South Australia to build on that legacy and continue to lead in many areas and on many fronts. The values espoused in this bill have their genesis in the tireless inspirational advocacy of South Australian pioneering trailblazers, such as Dame Roma Mitchell, Muriel Matters, Mary Lee and Don Dunstan.

The introduction of the bill could not be more timely, given the recent deaths of three outstanding crusaders for gender equality: the notorious Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Susan Ryan and Helen Reddy. These advocates saw their work as just the beginning. They wanted to see their work continue. They wanted to keep creating opportunities for positive change and they knew it would be generational. These leaders recognised that gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and, in some countries, class are intersectional forms of discrimination and harassment that hold our societies and economies back and they have worked tirelessly to address these issues.

They would have been proud of Kamala Harris, who in January 2021 became the first woman, first black person and first South Asian American person to become US Vice President. Watch out for broken glass as Ms Harris continues to smash those ceilings.

As members know, in 1894 the South Australian parliament passed the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act. That legislation was the result of a decade-long struggle to include women in the electoral process. It not only granted women in the colony the right to vote but allowed them to stand for parliament. We were, as we have heard many times in this place before, the first state in Australia to grant both rights and the first in the world to do so, subject to one exception. Aboriginal women in South Australia could legally vote in South Australian elections from this time, but the 1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act removed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's right to vote in federal elections.

That right was not reinstated until the 1962 Commonwealth Electoral Act. That is, incredibly, within the lifetime of many members sitting in this chamber today. It is hard to believe it was not until 1959, some 64 years after the South Australian act was enacted, that Jessie Cooper became the first female member of the South Australian Legislative Council and Joyce Steele the first female member in the House of Assembly.

South Australia was also a leader in the nation with our anti-discrimination laws, passing the Equal Opportunity Act 1984, some two years before the federal Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act in 1986. The bill was originally entitled the Anti-Discrimination Bill and was introduced by the Attorney-General at the time, the Hon. Chris Sumner, in the Legislative Council on 23 August 1984. Susan Ryan was the driver of the federal legislation. She was the first woman to serve as a Labor minister and was the only woman in Bob Hawke's cabinet.

Ryan, a self-described second-wave feminist, did the hard yards early on, securing long-denied rights and legal backing for Australian women and has served as an inspiration for many who have come after her. The fact that she managed to bring forth the Sex Discrimination Act in 1984 and the affirmative action act in 1986, two pieces of legislation that transformed the working lives of Australian women, is a testament to her courage and political skill.

The recent death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a US Supreme Court justice, only the second female ever appointed to that court and a tireless crusader for women's rights and gender equality, brought home how important it was to continue such groundbreaking work and pursue the efforts of gutsy, persistent achievers like her. We must progress their work, honouring the legacies of these trailblazers by pursuing the generational, incremental shifts towards fully realising gender equality for all, because, as 'The Notorious' RBG said, 'Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.'

My recent motion calling for the equal opportunity commissioner to independently inquire into the prevalence of harassment, including sexual harassment, in the legal profession in SA and to report to this parliament, which had unanimous support in this place, was one such step in bringing about the seismic-scale change in the legal profession. The review, as we know, heard from more than 600 people who were currently working or had recently worked in the sector. It found the extent and nature of harassment within the legal profession is alarming and must be addressed.

As the equal opportunity commissioner, the Attorney-General and the Chief Justice have acknowledged in response to that report, this is unacceptable and should not happen in a contemporary workplace. We have continued to see the flow-on impacts of that work in recent weeks. I am pleased the Attorney has committed to implementing the 16 recommendations of that report, but, as the Hon. Tammy Franks has pointed out on multiple occasions in this place, it needs to be done much quicker than it is being done at the moment.

The Attorney-General's call for the Equal Opportunity Commission to review harassment in the South Australian parliament in response to advocacy was another initiative to drive cultural and systemic change that I am sure will improve the working lives of members and staff in this place, if and when it is finally realised.

This bill is one more step towards our society and economy reaching its full potential. It responds to society's increasing calls for change from courageous people like Brittany Higgins and Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, to take up the challenge of addressing gender equality from where these trailblazing advocates left off.

The gender equality baton has been passed to us—the current generation of South Australian legislators—and I do not want to see that opportunity pass us by. As I recently commented to Jane Sloane, Senior Director of the Asia Foundation, an organisation that empowers women and promotes gender equality throughout Asia, it is not a baton I ever really expected to be passed, but I am pleased to see that it has been grasped by so many of us in this place and federally, and I think it is in very strong hands indeed. The appetite for real change is palpable.

The bill presents South Australia with the opportunity to once again lead the nation, to be proactive and progressive in a way that will benefit the whole community because everyone, irrespective of gender, race, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation, benefits from gender equality, and if this bill is passed we will be the second state in Australia to enact gender equality legislation.

Victoria passed mirroring legislation, which commenced earlier this year. That legislation was developed within a supportive framework of complementary legislation, including the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act, which came into full effect in 2008. We still do not have an equivalent bill of rights nationally or in South Australia, and this would be a most worthy goal for government to aspire to, but it is not the work of this bill.

The Victorian government has had the very good fortune to appoint one of our own, former South Australian equal opportunity commissioner, Dr Niki Vincent, to the role of inaugural Victorian public sector commissioner for gender equality. There has been a separate motion in this place about Dr Vincent, but in brief she served as the South Australian commissioner from 2016 to 2020. She was responsible for the general administration of the Equal Opportunity Act, and I look forward to working with her successor and a broad range of experts and stakeholders to see this bill come to fruition.

The bill aims to expand on the work Dr Vincent and many others have done in South Australia to strive for continuous improvement in workplace gender equality across the state in the public sector, including the Courts Administration Authority and local councils. It has a second complementary focus of achieving better results through improved policies, programs and services being delivered by these agencies. This means the services being delivered will be cognisant of gender equality principles, and hence of a higher standard and a better fit for the South Australian public accessing these services.

The two objectives of the bill work hand in glove and avoid becoming siloed, like so much well-intended legislation often does. It is intended to work within the existing legal framework, although as I have noted we do not have the legislative groundwork that Victoria had to build on. It is important, therefore, to outline the difference between the equal opportunity commission and this proposed gender equality commission. Equal opportunity and gender equality are two quite different but closely related things. I might at this the point seek leave to conclude my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.