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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-11-13 Daily Xml
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Motions

Feminine Hygiene

The Hon. C. BONAROS (16:32): I move:

That this council—

1. Notes the importance of women and girls hygienically managing their menstruation with confidence, dignity and without stigma;

2. Recognises period poverty is a significant issue for those who are already statistically at greater risk of being unable to afford basic essentials such as pads and tampons;

3. Acknowledges that it is unacceptable that any woman or girl in South Australia is unable, or has difficulty in accessing, menstrual hygiene items;

4. Agrees with the recommendation made by the South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People in her report Leave No One Behind with respect to the provision of hygiene and sanitary items in South Australian schools; and

5. Calls on the government to work with the feminine hygiene industry and community partners to expand the current piecemeal provisions of sanitary product support in South Australian schools and develop a free, accessible and non-stigmatising supply and distribution scheme for a range of hygiene and sanitary items as a matter of urgency.

We, as policymakers and legislators, and as a community generally, must do more to help disadvantaged and vulnerable women and girls to safely and hygienically manage their periods. It is one of the most humane, fundamental things we can possibly do.

It is not uncommon for homeless and disadvantaged women and girls in Australia to suffer the indignity of using newspapers, dried leaves and rolled-up toilet paper as makeshift pads. Some women resort to stealing these items. Some girls stay home from school because their families cannot afford them. We know this is occurring and I, for one, find it very disturbing.

Rochelle Courtenay, CEO and founder of Share the Dignity, a charity that distributes menstrual hygiene products to women and girls in need throughout the country, told former senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore the following harrowing story, which the former senator recounted in a speech. I quote:

She (Rochelle) had spoken to a South Australian doctor who said it was not uncommon for women and girls to suffer significant medical problems because they did not have access to pads and tampons during their periods.

This doctor, who is based at one of Adelaide's major metropolitan hospitals, says disadvantaged women and girls present to emergency departments with toxic shock syndrome, which can be fatal if it's not treated immediately.

For the uninitiated: toxic shock syndrome is a rare and life-threatening form of blood poisoning. For women, toxic shock syndrome most commonly occurs in those who, to put it bluntly, do not or cannot change their tampons often enough.

It's hard to believe that here in the lucky country a woman or a girl could be gravely ill or even die simply because she couldn't change her tampon.

That's not hyperbole; it's not overkill; that's the sad reality for thousands of women and girls. Period poverty is here, and we need to do something about it.

In July 2017, the Scottish government announced it would distribute free menstrual hygiene products to those in low-income households as part of a six-month pilot program in Aberdeen. Launched by the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, Angela Constance, the pilot scheme made tampons and other sanitary items easily accessible to those who need them but cannot afford them. Pads and tampons are funded by the Scottish government and provided for free at selected locations, such as secondary schools, shelters and food banks.

At the time, it was the first program of its kind in the UK and was expected to help approximately 1,000 women and girls in its six-month trial. The Scottish government recognised its policies in this area had fallen short of what was needed to even begin to tackle period poverty. The trial's outstanding success saw an expansion of the project in May last year, before the government dedicated £5.2 million to offer free products to all pupils in Scotland in August of last year. In January of this year, the Scottish government committed a further £4 million to tackle period poverty, making free sanitary products available in more public places. The funding is given to councils, which work with other organisations to meet local needs.

The fact is that the situation described in Scotland is not dissimilar by any stretch to the situation right here in Australia and this is why, in an Australian first, the Andrews Labor government in Victoria announced last month that it is rolling out sanitary pads and tampons in every state school free of charge to reduce the stigma of periods, making school more inclusive for girls and young women and saving families money. This initiative represents the first step in developing a sensitive and dignified solution to making these products easily accessible to those who need them.

I for one welcomed the announcement at the time and asked the question in the chamber of the Leader of the Government if the government would follow the lead of the Victorian government on this wonderful initiative. The response from the Minister for Education was woefully disappointing. While it was tabled in the chamber on 15 October 2019, I will repeat it, and I quote:

In most schools it is common practice to have sanitary items available for students in emergencies. The Department for Education is not currently considering funding the provision of sanitary items in South Australian government schools.

The department has information available for schools which provides awareness of menstrual management and access to resources and learning tools.

That response from the education minister was disappointing and inadequate and, strangely, it was also significantly at odds with his written response to me after I formally wrote to both the Premier and the minister on the issue following the question that I asked in this chamber. I seek leave to table my letter of 17 September and the minister's response of 7 October.

Leave granted.

The Hon. C. BONAROS: In late 2017, former Senator Skye Kakoschke-Moore facilitated a meeting between Rochelle Courtenay; volunteers of Share the Dignity; Dr Susan Close, the then state Labor education minister; and other departmental officers to facilitate the implementation of its period pack dispensing machines in certain schools in SA free of charge to the government. That meeting was successful and it was my understanding that matters were still progressing, albeit slowly. Indeed, minister Gardner refers to that in his formal written response to me.

Earlier this month, the Commissioner for Children and Young People released her poverty report Leave No One Behind. The report documents a series of discussions and conversations she had with children and young people who explained to her what living in poverty is like for them and what they think needs to be done to address the impact of it right now.

From December 2018 to June 2019, the commissioner consulted with more than 1,400 South Australian children and young people aged 12 to 22 years via workshops, focus groups, a poverty survey and a poverty summit. It included a number who have a lived experience of poverty, with the remainder drawing on their observations of those in their schools and the broader community who they see living with the impact of poverty daily.

Poverty is real in Australia, and the inequity that exists between rich and poor continues to grow in this country. In 2018, SACOSS reported that more than 60,660 South Australian households were living below the poverty line. This represents 9 per cent of all households or 131,945 South Australians, 22,350 of whom are children and young people under 18. This is what the commissioner had to say in her report with respect to the lived experience of children and young people not able to freely access hygiene and sanitary products:

Hygiene participants told us about the impact not being able to afford hygiene products such as deodorant, toothpaste and soap has on young men and women. They commented on how being poor impacts 'whether or not you bathe well and get the right amount of care for your body'…

For young women 'period poverty' was a real issue raised in a number of groups. Girls told us about missing school because they couldn't afford sanitary products.

A number of girls spoke about the products being available at school, but that the process of accessing them was embarrassing and required quite a lot of self-disclosure which many were not comfortable to provide…

For a lot of females in poverty, menstrual products are inaccessible.

A young person also talked about how hygiene needed to be 'role modelled', explaining that if you are not taught how to take proper care of yourself then it is difficult to know what to do, or what and how to ask for help. We learnt that for some families because good hygiene is not achievable, it is therefore not taught.

My heart breaks that there are children and young people in South Australia who do not have access to such basic items the rest of us take for granted.

Just imagine the indignity for a teenage girl of going to the school office when she is menstruating to ask for a pad or tampon—because they are only made available for emergencies, according to the minister—and having to disclose such personal information about yourself, that you are bleeding and in need of a tampon, to whoever it is that you are confronted with at the front office. It would be embarrassing to all of us and just should not happen—not here and not anywhere. The current regime of accessing pads and tampons in our schools is woefully inadequate and must change.

In relation to that and by way of update, I spoke to the commissioner since her report was published regarding the viability of the current process and also the appropriateness of those arrangements in schools in terms of accessing sanitary products, and she advised that her office undertook a test to see what schools are doing in practice.

Twenty-four out of 48 schools were contacted. The commissioner confirmed that most schools do indeed provide products upon request, but these products have to be dispensed by an adult staff member. Staff also reported that the availability of sanitary products is not readily promoted or publicised by schools and moreover that the arrangements at most, if not all, the schools contacted were ad hoc in nature at best. It is a piecemeal process that is offered, one that smacks in the face of ensuring accessibility, affordability and availability in a non-stigmatising environment and, of course, to all cultural groups, a very important consideration in this context.

The need for these products is no different to the need for toilet paper, and they should be universally available, with no ifs or buts. Just imagine the outcry if schools did not provide toilet paper. Just imagine if male students were forced to trot down to the front office, find a staff member and request toilet paper when they used a toilet as opposed to a urinal. That is what young girls in schools are asked to do.

I recently called on the Premier to step in and take the lead on this crucial issue, because his education minister had so far refused to do so. Our education minister will have us believe that the current system in our schools is sufficient. The commissioner's report indicates otherwise and makes very clear the impact period poverty can have on a young woman. It can and does have a significant and life-changing impact on a young woman's life by adversely impacting her participation in a range of school activities, or she misses out on school altogether.

Young girls and women should be able to manage their menstruation hygienically, with confidence, dignity and without stigma, regardless of their personal and/or financial circumstances. I am sure that all of us in this chamber would agree that it is totally unacceptable that any girl or woman in Australia is unable to access sanitary items due entirely to her financial circumstances. It is imperative that we find ways of making menstrual hygiene products accessible to girls and women who would not otherwise have access to them and that governments assist in the facilitation of such access.

Dispensing machines containing sanitary items should be installed in all public schools in South Australia, not just a select few. The Marshall Liberal government can work with Share the Dignity now to facilitate, as a matter of urgency, its period pack dispensing machines. It would cost the government zero, zilch, nothing. My understanding is that there was a six-month trial in 2017, not with Share the Dignity but with Essentials 4 Women SA, but I do not believe that has progressed any further. So here we are, still trying to make a decision about whether we should roll out these dispensing machines across schools.

I commend Share the Dignity for its valuable work in providing these products free of charge not only to students but to disadvantaged women more generally. They are trying their hardest to get them into as many locations as possible at zero cost. They have sponsors. They have a two-year guarantee in terms of product availability. They have volunteers to stock the machines. They are GPS tracked. There is not much that Share the Dignity has not done to avoid any cost impost on government and to make sanitary products as widely accessible to those who cannot afford them as possible.

The Minister for Health and Wellbeing gets it. I thank him for his cooperation in trying to get these machines into some of our hospitals in this state, an issue that we have been working on with Share the Dignity. My understanding is that, most recently, the implementation of period pack dispensing machines in Flinders Medical Centre is progressing well.

I also met with the Lord Mayor and Share the Dignity staff last week to facilitate the implementation of period pack dispensing machines in the City of Adelaide. I can say that it was a breeze of a meeting because, for the Lord Mayor, it was absolutely a no-brainer. Hopefully, we will have the same opportunity with all local councils following that meeting. I will reiterate that that meeting went exceptionally well because our Lord Mayor, Sandy Verschoor, understands the importance of what we are dealing with.

As a state, we cannot let the rise in period poverty continue. I think it is sad that we have to stand in this place and speak about that issue: period poverty. It just does not make sense that we cannot get something so simple right. Australia can do better. Australian women and girls deserve better. Menstrual hygiene products are a necessity. We do not get to choose whether we use these products or not: we must use these products, so access to them should be a right, not a privilege, and it should be a universal right. South Australia has an opportunity to take a lead role in this vital area. With those words, I commend the motion to the chamber.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.S.L. Dawkins.

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