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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-05-17 Daily Xml
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WOMEN'S INFORMATION SERVICE

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:20): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for the Status of Women a question about the Women's Information Service.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS: The Women's Information Service is a free and confidential service for all women in South Australia. The Women's Information Service is committed to providing accurate information and aims to empower women to make informed decisions. The Women's Information Service is developing a digital engagement strategy to increase women's capacity to access and create online content that utilises Web 2.0 technology. Can the minister give the chamber an example of digital engagement?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (15:20): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. As members know, the Women's Information Service (WIS) operates using a gateway service delivery model to connect women with services and information that they might need. The WIS has identified the need to engage in partnerships in the community to enable it to leverage its resources to maximise opportunities to empower women, and particularly to empower women to make informed choices.

Pap Awareness Week (PAW) is held in the first week of May. This year, it ran from Sunday 6 to Saturday 12 May. The SA Cervix Screening Program provides Community Small Grants of $500 for health and community organisations in metropolitan Adelaide to promote the importance of two-yearly Pap smears in women aged 18 to 70 years.

The WIS and the SA Cervix Screening Program identified this opportunity to partner on a project with two of these grants. The University of Adelaide University Women's Group and the Friday Fun Group were also to become partners in this project. The project involved working closely with these groups to create short films that promote the importance of regular Pap smears for young women. The films were screened in front of the young women and their friends during Pap smear awareness week following two workshops.

The first workshop was run by a filmmaker who worked with the women involved to develop the short films and included an information presentation from Dr Tonia Mezzini (provided by the SA Cervix Screening Program) who explained to the young women about the Pap smear procedure and highlighted the importance of making sure that they get a Pap smear every two years. The WIS and the SA Cervix Screening Program also had an opportunity to promote and explain their services to the young women present.

As members would know, as a former nurse, I am well aware of the importance of regular Pap smears. Women between the ages of 18 and 70 years who have ever been sexually active should have a Pap smear every two years. A Pap smear can indicate early warning signs long before cancer of the cervix—which is the neck of the womb—develops. I think it is worth mentioning that if women do have regular Pap smears, 90 per cent of cervical cancers can be prevented and, obviously, the earlier a potential cervical cancer can be detected, the greater the chances of having it treated.

The second workshop was facilitated by filmmaker Christine Kavanagh, and this workshop focused on producing and completing the group's digital stories. Christine also gave a short presentation on online video promotion and social media. The workshops were held in the women's local communities to promote the services available to them locally.

The film screening was hosted by WIS and held at 4pm on Friday 11 May. It was open to the friends and families of participants and it invited representatives from relevant organisations. The short films are being promoted via social media websites by the young women involved, WIS and the SA Cervix Screening Program. The Pap project is also being promoted on Twitter.

This project therefore serves the dual purpose of promoting the importance of regular Pap smears in these young women and their wider social circles while also providing them with an opportunity to improve their media and online communication skills. The nature of online communication means that this will also promote WIS and the SA Cervix Screening Program.

The project has a number of aims: informing young women of the importance of two yearly checks; giving women the opportunity to develop their online and digital communication skills; promoting both WIS and the SA Cervix Screening Program; increasing the online profile of both those programs; and informing and empowering young women to make good decisions about their health.

Members may be aware that a recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report showed women in their early 20s were least likely to be tested. I am hopeful that this project will encourage young women to make sure that they receive Pap smears every two years.

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