AgriFutures Rural Women's Award

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:51): My question is the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding a rural women's award. Will the minister update the chamber about the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award gala dinner and national announcement held last week?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:51): I thank the honourable member for his question. Last Tuesday night I had the absolute privilege of joining with a strong contingent of South Australian rural women at the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award gala dinner and national announcement at Parliament House in Canberra in support of Nikki Atkinson who represented South Australia.

Nikki Atkinson is from the Flinders Ranges and is recognised for her innovative skill in creating sustainable wedding dresses and special occasion wear from merino wool. Nikki was named the South Australian winner of the prestigious award in March, and I spoke about Nikki's achievements in this place at that time and it is this honour that led her to represent the state in the national competition.

Most wedding dresses are typically sewed using materials such as polyester and so by using merino wool in a market such as the wedding dress industry it is innovative in that the material creates a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative.

I was also very much heartened to see how invested the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award alumni are in continuing to make the time to travel from their homes across Australia to Canberra each year for this special event and to support their fellow finalists. The two South Australian finalists, Susie Williams and Suzi Evans, joined Nikki and I at this event and it was wonderful to share this experience of celebrating the outstanding achievements of rural women across our state and across our country.

Prime Minister Albanese and the newly appointed federal Minister for Agriculture, Julie Collins, were also in attendance and addressed the dinner. Tanya Egerton, an Indigenous affairs advocate representing the Northern Territory, was announced as the national winner and she will now receive a $20,000 grant to support her work in empowering the entrepreneurial aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across remote northern Australia in an ethical and culturally-focused enterprise, the Remote OpShop Project.

The Remote OpShop Project has developed a reuse and recycling hubs format that redirects high-quality and affordable goods from landfill and redistributes these goods to First Nations communities, with the scale of development overseen by the Northern Territory First Nations Leadership Council. I remember one of the particularly interesting facts that was raised during the presentation about that particular project: in quite a short period of time, a call-out went out for goods across the country, and 350,000 items of clothing and household goods, all good quality, were donated in record time. That really is testament to the importance of that sort of project and how much it has been able to attract interest.

The AgriFutures Rural Women's Award Is Australia's leading award in acknowledging and supporting the role that women have in our rural industries, communities and businesses. I am also very pleased to share that applications for the 2025 Rural Women's Award are now open and close on Wednesday 9 October at 12 noon. More information can be found by visiting the AgriFutures website.

Again, congratulations to Nikki for representing our state at this important national event. The state government is proud to support this initiative and I encourage women who live and work in rural South Australia to consider applying for next year's award.