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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-28 Daily Xml
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WOMEN HOLD UP HALF THE SKY AWARD

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:26): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about the Women Hold Up Half the Sky Award.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: As Minister for the Status of Women, I know that the Hon. Gail Gago has been concentrating hard on having more South Australian women recognised for their achievements. Can the minister inform the chamber of the latest efforts to recognise women?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister for the City of Adelaide) (15:26): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. Last week I was very pleased to announce the creation of a new annual Australia Day Council of South Australia award to recognise outstanding South Australian women. As I have said many times, I believe that too many women go unrecognised for the work they undertake in both paid and volunteer capacities. It is my intention that this award provides an excellent opportunity to celebrate the women who give so much to our communities, and we know that women are often notoriously bad at putting themselves forward and singing their own praise.

The first of the annual awards is to be presented at the Australia Day Honours Awards at Government House in January 2011, so we can look forward to that first annual award event. It will be called 'Women Hold Up Half the Sky', the award having taken its name from the well-known and very famous artwork by the internationally recognised South Australian artist Ann Newmarch. Ms Newmarch, who lives in Adelaide, is herself a recipient of the Order of Australia for services to art. She has had over 30 solo exhibitions and is represented in many major national and international exhibits.

I was recently honoured to meet with Ann Newmarch at the Art Gallery of South Australia, where her amazing inspirational work is actually held, and I want to take this opportunity to thank the Art Gallery. The particular piece of art was not on display at that time but was in storage, and they very kindly got it out of storage so that we could do some promotional activities around Ann Newmarch and this fabulous piece of art. I do thank the people concerned for their efforts in that regard.

Not only is the name of the artwork very fitting for the new award: Ann Newmarch herself is a very inspirational woman. She is a very active, dynamic and creative South Australian woman, who has won a great deal of national and international recognition for her work. As members know, this new award is part of an ongoing strategy by the Rann government to increase the nomination and public recognition of women. In 2009, I launched an information kit, Recognising and Celebrating Inspirational South Australian Women. The kit provides information on how to pay tribute to the outstanding achievements of women by nominating them for prestigious mainstream awards.

The South Australian Women's Honour Roll, which the state government launched in 2008, is also an important part of the strategy, with over 250 women nominated for the roll last year. We had an excellent start to the Women's Honour Roll, and we are now moving to make it biennial to ensure that it is a very special and prestigious event and that it remains that way. As part of this, we are strengthening its connections with the Australia Day Awards system, including supporting the nomination of South Australian women for national awards. New nominations for the biennial honour roll will be announced on International Women's Day next year. I encourage all members in this place to think about nominating an inspiring woman for the Half the Sky Award. Nominations will remain open until 10 December.

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