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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2016-03-09 Daily Xml
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Women in Parliament

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (15:51): I am sure that there is no doubt in this chamber that I am passionate about women's roles in politics and in the broader community, and I am very proud that South Australia has been a leader nationally in terms of progression of women's rights, being the first state, as we know, to allow women to vote amongst a raft of other firsts and successes. I am also proud of the Labor Party's progression of women's rights. We now have an affirmative action policy in place to ensure 50 per cent representation of women from 2025 in all levels of the party. We had the first female Prime Minister of Australia and I am very honoured and proud to say that I had the privilege of being, I believe, the first female acting premier of South Australia—at least I am not able to find any records to the contrary.

This is not to say that Labor has fully succeeded in its journey to gender equity, and I reminded the government when I stepped down from cabinet in January this year that more work needed to be done in this space to achieve gender balance, not only in parliament but also in cabinet. Labor has a strong history of giving women the opportunity and the right to represent themselves. Although the Liberal Fraser government originated the portfolio of minister assisting the Prime Minister in women's affairs, the portfolio was managed and overseen by men. What an appalling message to communicate to Australian men and women—that women's policy was finally important enough to have its own portfolio (well, sort of important enough), however, it needed to be supervised and managed by men. Men needed to remain in charge of women's matters.

It was only under the Hawke Labor government that women were finally given the right to represent the portfolio concerning women. While Labor has moved steadily forward in this area, the federal Liberals have only had short spasmodic episodes of a standalone minister for women, with I think Judi Moylan serving a year in the late nineties and Michaela Cash in September 2015. Labor, on the other hand, left the days of 'minister assisting' where they belonged and had a dedicated Minister for the Status of Women for the entirety of the Rudd/Gillard tenure.

In South Australia, the Hon. Anne Levy reports that she originated both the minister assisting the Premier in the status of women portfolio under Bannon, and later under Arnold she originated the ministry of the status of women. She also recounted that she believed that it was the first standalone ministry for the status of women in the nation in 1992. The South Australian Liberal Party thankfully did not follow their federal colleagues and they retained a Minister for the Status of Women position from the Brown government onwards.

I would like to congratulate the Hon. Jing Lee for her recent preselection for the 2018 Legislative Council ticket, however, I have to say I was disappointed to see that the Hon. Jing Lee was only given the fourth spot on the Liberal ticket and was not surprised to see male candidates taking the first, second and third positions. Her business credentials are the bread and butter of the Liberal ethos, and her skill and dedication in representing the people of South Australia (albeit a small glitch in question time today) is well acknowledged and well regarded. As I said, it is disappointing that she has been given the fourth spot as she is such a meritous candidate.

Labor seeks to end the double standards against women in public life. There is a fantastic satire Facebook page, 'Man who has it all', which twists phrases traditionally said about women to make the point that we have a long way to go. My personal favourite is, 'I genuinely don't have a problem with male candidates in elections, as long as they are put forward on merit alone.'

I have always put the support and mentorship of women and women's positions unapologetically in the foreground throughout my role as a member of parliament, and in my former roles in the union movement and as a nurse. I have had the honour and privilege of working with many fantastic women who have gone on to work tirelessly in all manner of causes. I have employed women whenever I could and supported and encouraged many women to set themselves career goals and advance themselves.

Recently I have been engaged with a mentoring program through the Labor Party, and I am thrilled to be working with a young woman who is engaged in student politics and studying journalism and international relations. As an employer I have always held the view that no matter what your position, you should leave with more than what you came with, whether that be skills development, further education attainment, stronger professional networks or merely greater confidence. I look forward to continuing to contribute to those efforts that work to ensure that all women have access to the same opportunities that are available to men and for women to be able to be the very best that they can be.

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