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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-06-23 Daily Xml
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PARENTAL LEAVE

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (16:11): Paid parental leave was announced last week by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and the Minister for Families, the Hon. Jenny Macklin. This wonderful development in family life and a giant step forward for mothers and fathers has largely gone without the rejoicing I feel and had anticipated was merited.

It is a giant first step for babies, making sure their parents have the security of income they need in those first vital weeks. It provides choice for parents in how they arrange to care for their new baby and it means women in particular have achieved a milestone already enjoyed by many mothers throughout the world.

Women's rights are hard-won and when I attended the ASU's Equal Pay for Women rally earlier in June it reminded me that the struggle continues on that front and on many others. Here in South Australia women enjoyed many firsts. Importantly, they were able to receive good education and go to university, and of course South Australia was the first place in the world to grant dual suffrage to women; that is, the right to vote and the right to stand for election.

While there is much made of the fact that two other countries had earlier granted the right to vote (New Zealand being one of them) no other place in the world thought women were capable of standing for election. Looking across the chamber I see Catherine Helen Spence, our champion, depicted on the five dollar note, on the tapestry—she stood for election for the Federation Convention—and Mary Lee and Elizabeth Nicholls are also on the tapestry. They and many other South Australian women fought for these rights and stared down defeat, only to see that South Australia was one of the last places in the world where a woman was elected.

The battle for enfranchisement was fought long and hard by our sisters in the UK and the USA and Australian women played a prominent assisting role in both nations. One in particular is a South Australian-born woman, Muriel Matters, who is largely unknown but holds a special place in women's rights history. This month sees the centenary of Muriel's return to Australia, for she left her birthplace in 1905 to further her career on the stage. While a gifted elocutionist and actress, Muriel soon found herself on the world stage as she used her artistic abilities to promote the message of how important the right to vote really is.

Women in Britain had begun the struggle to win the vote in 1863 and when Muriel arrived in London Mrs Pankhurst was just beginning to transfer her efforts and tactics from Manchester to the capital. Women wanted the vote in order to have a say in how their circumstances were handled. They knew that without this power their destinies were not in their own hands.

The government of the time said their views were not held by as many as necessary to see a change in the law and so the women, mostly educated and of reasonable means, engaged with the masses of working people living in difficult circumstances and often poverty in the Britain of the post industrial revolution. This reinforced more than ever the necessity of full enfranchisement and how important it was for people to know and understand the power of the vote. Muriel had already voted twice before she left South Australia and felt keenly the right to education, for she had a lifelong interest in education and the arts and soon wanted to use her artistic ability to change the world for the better.

Muriel had a strong sense of social justice and, with her clear voice and ability to explain while entertaining, soon became a motivational public speaker, advocating the cause of emancipation and better conditions for all. We know of her abhorrence of sweatshops, sadly still in existence even here in South Australia where piecework is still exposed by unions wherever possible. Muriel had the courage of her convictions and, when a minor example of civil disobedience saw her imprisoned, she added prison reform to her list of grievances as her first-hand experience had shown her how unenlightened incarceration methods achieved little.

Muriel's civil disobedience was taking part in a demonstration at Westminster where early in the evening of 28 October 1908 she had chained herself to ironwork in the ladies gallery of the House of Commons. Women were kept well back from the action on the floor of the house behind a grille, and by chaining herself to the grille, forcing its removal, Muriel found herself technically on the floor of the house and therefore became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons.

Through the Muriel Matters Society and with the help and enthusiastic support of my colleagues—the Hon. Steph Key and you, Madam Speaker, and former colleagues Jane Lomax-Smith and Lea Stevens—it has been possible to bring Muriel's story back to life and begin to find her place in history.

A wonderful production to commemorate Muriel's centenary visit was held in the exact venue, the Adelaide Town Hall, this time on Sunday 13 June. An exceptional creative and artistic team assembled with the help of Margie Fischer, saw actresses Teresa de Gennaro and Carol Young, directed by Catherine Campbell with visuals by Lisa Philip-Harbutt and lighting by Sue Grey Gardiner, bringing Sheila Duncan's script to life with original music by Jessica Monck and Carol Young. The play has enjoyed enormous success, and with it we hope to bring Muriel's story to life for a wider audience, particularly within the regions and in schools.

We know that Muriel's story will be a fine example to the young women coming up, to understand that if you do not like what you see the best thing is to do is to get active and work to change it. Muriel Matters, born in Bowden, is a daughter of South Australia who has much to offer us, and history does indeed teach us a lesson.

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