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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-10-27 Daily Xml
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Muriel Matters

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:58): Tomorrow is 28 October, a date I remember because it is the 113th anniversary of the Grille protest by the celebrated South Australian suffragist Muriel Matters in the House of Commons, part of Westminster, the mother of all parliaments.

On that night 113 years ago, there were to be several protests in and around the parliamentary precinct because the people had been lobbying their MPs and trying to convince them they needed equal franchise, the right to vote on the same terms for everybody in the country, for about 50 years by the time 1908 had come around.

In that year, the Pankhurst Women's Social and Political Union were only asking for votes on the same terms as men: that is, rich property-owning or tertiary-educated men. This disenfranchisement of women who could satisfy these criteria, as well as all working men and women, was a very sad state of affairs.

This distinction was to drive an irrevocable wedge between members of the Pankhurst family—Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst and her oldest daughter, Christabel, who was a lawyer, as was her deceased father—as they felt they would only be successful if they settled for what had already been put in place for the men of the country in those positions. They opposed the views of the other two daughters and siblings, Sylvia and Adela Pankhurst, who wanted an ambit claim, that of all men and all women being able to enjoy voting privileges, making the UK a fully fledged democracy.

Enter Muriel Matters, a South Australian woman and part of the newly formed Women's Freedom League, to which Sylvia had strong links, and a woman who had already voted twice before she left her birthplace. Muriel was selected by the Women's Freedom League for this particular protest because of her experience not only in voting but also because of her years of elocution training and professional acting, which made her a perfect public speaker.

Along with her friends—co-chainer Helen Fox and Violet Tillard, who was in charge of the proclamation banner listing the demands of the women of England—Muriel managed to be escorted into the Ladies' Gallery located high above the floor of the House of Commons Speaker's chair in the chamber. Just after the resumption of business in the house after dinner, Muriel and Helen each chained themselves to a section of one of the 18 parts of the grille.

We are very lucky in South Australia to have a section of that grille on display here in our Centre Hall, a tangible reminder of the links between our state, arguably the first place in the world to extend dual franchise rights to its female population—that is, the right to vote and the right to stand for election—and the woman who arguably became the first woman to speak in the House of Commons.

This first was recognised because, to remove Muriel from the section of the grille to which she was chained, the attendants had to unscrew the grille to remove her from the gallery whilst still chained to the grille. This technically put her on the floor of the house, and this was recorded by newspapers, so it must be true.

Why is all this relevant to the 21st century and, in particular, our participatory democracy? Well, it is because our democracy is valuable and it is a fragile thing. The value of the vote cannot be underestimated or undermined because it is at the heart of how people direct their MP. This, along with the importance of activism, has been recognised by the introduction of the Muriel Matters Award in all high schools in this state, an award to foster activism established on an initiative of our immediate past Speaker Teague.

Through his efforts, and the assistance of education minister Gardner and Susan Cameron, who is a director of curriculum, a committee of high-powered people led by Malcolm McInerney was put in place to investigate how this award might be put into all our high schools. They came together, and their efforts will see each of the approximately 300 sites in this state—public schools, private schools and independent schools—focus on identifying young people who are striving to make our state, and therefore the world, a better place, thus fulfilling one of Muriel's long-held ambitions.

I am really excited to see something like this begin in our state because it is only through activating our young people that we will see their interest grow in our voting system. We have three elections due in this state in the next little while—federal, state and local government elections. The question also arises about the difference between compulsory and voluntary voting. As we know, state and federal governments are compulsory, which is a very hard word, but I think something that is really important—while our participation in local government elections, because it is voluntary, is much lower.

In commending and recommending all members to have a look at the grille tomorrow sometime, remember the struggle of the woman born in South Australia who put us on the UK map.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Florey. It was a most interesting contribution. I also acknowledge your efforts to ensure the establishment of the Muriel Matters Award and I acknowledge, too, the efforts of Speaker Teague and the Minister for Education in respect of that important matter.

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