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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-11-09 Daily Xml
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SEX DISCRIMINATION

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (15:03): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about sex discrimination.

Leave granted.

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO: Wednesday 3 November marked the 35th anniversary of the passing of South Australia's sex discrimination act. I understand that the minister spoke at the Dunstan Foundation event, marking this momentous occasion. Will the minister tell the chamber about the event?

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) (15:04): I thank the honourable member for her question. Indeed, on Wednesday 3 November, at Bonython Hall, I was very pleased to attend and speak at the Dunstan Foundation celebration marking 35 years since the first Australian sex discrimination legislation was passed. The celebration included a public keynote address from the always impressive Anne Summers, and a very lively debate entitled, 'For a woman to succeed in business she has to be a man.'

I would like to mention that my parliamentary colleague, the Hon. Michelle Lensink, the federal minister Kate Ellis and the Hon. Anne Levy also spoke at that event, and they all proved to be very insightful and thought-provoking speakers. The event celebrated the gains that have been achieved since South Australia first introduced our ground-breaking sex discrimination legislation, as well as considering the future and the reforms we need obviously to continue to work towards.

As I said, Dr Anne Summers AO, author, journalist, media presenter and feminist, provided the keynote address. As members might be aware, Anne was a political adviser to prime minister Paul Keating, is a winner of the Walkley Award for Journalism, and in 1989 became an Officer of the Order of Australia for Service to Journalism and to Women's Affairs. Her speech offered a really fascinating overview of the time before sex discrimination legislation and an analysis of where we are at now. She concluded with a ringing call to arms for young feminists to continue to fight for true equality.

Perhaps the most memorable part of the evening, however, was the debate, which included television presenter and author Dorinda Hafner and Lindy Powell QC. They were on one side and on the other were Chelsea Lewis of the YWCA and Tory Shepherd, a health reporter with The Advertiser. The Hon. Justice Robyn Layton adjudicated the discussion with a great deal of aplomb and humour. I was very pleased to see that it was the younger women, Chelsea and Tory, who proved victorious in arguing that women do not have to be men to succeed. I suspect that it would be hard to image any other outcome.

The sex discrimination bill was first introduced by Dr David Tonkin in 1973 as a private member's bill but was then strengthened and passed by the Dunstan government on 4 November 1975. It was the first government bill in Australia to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sex. South Australia was the very first jurisdiction for the first time anywhere in Australia in which gender-based discrimination by banks, employers and businesses was outlawed. We also were one of the leaders internationally. It seems quite difficult now to try to imagine the context under which there was a need for such legislation.

The fact that women had to resign, in many instances, from their work as a result of marrying, or that women needed their husband's written permission to get a bank loan or for them to go guarantor, in retrospect seems quite ludicrous and amusing to those of us who have enjoyed the privileges coming from this legislation for many years. The sex discrimination bill set in train a whole series of cultural changes that continue to evolve and alter our social landscape for the better.

What I took from that particular evening was the sense that I was indeed very privileged to share a moment in history with a group of other women, many very special women, who in the past 35 years have bent the arc of history to their dreams, and very few of us can ever say we have been able to achieve that. The challenge they pass on to us as parliamentarians is to continue those great changes with the same sense of daring and purpose they did 35 years ago.

As I said on the night, we can do so by drawing upon the wisdom and experience of those women who pointed the way ahead and handed the responsibility to us. I pass on my congratulations to everyone from the Dunstan Foundation who organised that very significant event, with my particular thanks to Claire Bossley and the Hon. Anne Levy.

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