Women in Hotels Conference

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:28): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding the Women in Hotels Conference 2021. Can the minister please provide an update to the council on the importance of the conference and how it embraces women who are working in the hotel industry?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:28): I thank the honourable member for her question. Indeed, it was a great pleasure to participate in the 2021 Woman in Hotels Conference, which was held quite recently. It has been running, I think, for over 20 years—27 years in fact—and it is a biennial event to bring women from across the sector together to share their knowledge and engage in networking.

It was my pleasure to be able to open the conference. We certainly enjoyed the opportunity to be able to meet in person, which in other jurisdictions doesn't happen as much. I think it needs to be acknowledged that it's very important for women in various industries, regardless of whether that is in feminised industries or ones that traditionally women haven't participated as much in, to be able to get together at an industry level to network and to gain support from one another.

Guest speakers included Chelsea Randall, the captain of the AFLW Adelaide Crows, who obviously is someone who is a great role model for women. There were also presentations from Taryn Brumfitt, who is well known for her work in body awareness and encouraging women to be themselves and to not worry about what people think about their body shape, and also Julie Hancock, who is from Zagame Corporation Victoria, who was talking about team culture, recruitment and the like.

It is a very important event for Women in Hotels to be able to get together and it was a great privilege to be able to share part of their day with them.