Australian Women Lawyers National Conference

The Hon. M. EL DANNAWI (14:31): My question is to the Attorney-General. Will the minister inform the council about this year's biennial Australian Women Lawyers National Conference?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:32): I thank the honourable member for her question. Across two days last month, the Australian Women Lawyers held their national conference, which had the theme 'Leading the Way'.

I have been very proud to speak about events, particularly from the Women Lawyers Association of South Australia, who do a fantastic job of representing women in the legal profession in this state. I think I have told the chamber about their recent 25^th anniversary of the creation of that organisation, and more recently, only in the last few weeks, the event that was held at the Attorney-General's Department for women public sector lawyers with the Women Lawyers Association.

The biennial conference for Australian Women Lawyers was attended by many women lawyers from right across the country and attracted many impressive speakers to discuss the themes of leadership, gender equality and gender justice. The keynote speaker for the conference was Australian human rights lawyer and barrister Jennifer Robinson of Doughty Street Chambers in London. Ms Robinson spoke about how often the law silences women, and in her presentation she inspired attendees to be the change, to keep fighting for what is right and to lift other women up.

The conference also facilitated a series of panel presentations from some leading Australian women lawyers, including Dr Anna Cody, the commonwealth Sex Discrimination Commissioner, and leading First Nations lawyers Ms Karly Warner and Ms Emma Hudson-Buhagiar from the NSW and ACT Aboriginal Legal Service.

The conference was concluded with a dinner, which was an opportunity for reflecting on the important themes of the conference and for attendees to mingle with each other and make connections with people from all over the world. I would like to congratulate all current and former AWL board members for their efforts in organising this significant conference. I look forward to events in South Australia that continue to promote the role of women in the law.