Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support this private member's motion and to thank my colleague the member for Hotham for bringing it to the House. Of course we know that women have played a crucial role in advancing science, technology, engineering and maths in Australia. I have spoken on numerous occasions in this place on the good work of pioneering women in Australian science—women like Dorothy Hill, a geologist and researcher most famous for becoming the first professor at an Australian university, and Ruby Payne-Scott, the first female radioastronomer and a pioneer in her field, contributing to some of the earliest discoveries in radioastronomy research. Ruby got her first big break during the Second World War while all the men were busy abroad. Ruby went to work for the CSIR, now the CSIRO, helping to develop top-secret radar technology that would help defend Australia from the threat of invasion. After the war, Ruby went on to make path-breaking discoveries in radioastronomy, including in three categories of solar bursts.

Despite the good work of these trailblazers and many women that came after them, Australia still struggles to reach its full potential. That is because women are not fully represented in all levels of STEM in Australia and they are not on parity with men. We know that only one-third of university graduates in a STEM course are women and only 28 per cent of Australia's STEM-qualified workers are women. The number of students studying maths and science in high school is falling and the gap between boys and girls is getting wider. In 2013, only six per cent of girls studied year 12 advanced maths.

There are a number of barriers. When it comes to school, these could include expectations of teachers, parents and peers—as well as self-expectations. It could be the lack of female role models in STEM disciplines or the presence of stereotypes portrayed in the media which can make it harder for girls to imagine a career in STEM. But when we deny girls the opportunity to develop an interest in maths, science and technology we are denying ourselves the access to the next batch of Dorothy Hill and Ruby Payne Scott and the would-be contributions that they will make to science and in STEM in Australia.

The trends seen in primary school and secondary school continues well into adulthood, with women comprising just 17 per cent of senior academics in Australian universities and research institutes. In the last sitting week I was very pleased to help launch the SAGE Athena SWAN Charter pilot, an initiative introduced by the Academy of Science and the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering to improve gender-equity policies at our universities, scientific and medical institutions. It is pleasing to see an initiative designed to independently evaluate the participation of women, in STEM, in key Australian institutions. I know, as the co-convener of the Parliamentary Friendship Group of Women in Science, Maths and Engineering, together with the member for Higgins, this pilot is an incredibly important time that will shed a light on the underrepresentation of women in STEM but, importantly, give a pathway of how to address that.

It is clear that Australia, as a nation, will fail to reach its productive potential until women can reach theirs. It will not be achieved until we start focusing and teaching more girls in STEM skills. That is why I am also very pleased that Labor has announced a positive plan to get more young people, particularly women, interested in these vital subjects. If elected to government, we will encourage more students to take up STEM degrees by writing off the HECS-HELP debt of 100,000 prospective university students in this field. Indeed, we have also announced that there will be, in the selection process, a focus on encouraging women to be a part of this. We will also make sure that every young person has a chance to learn about computer coding at school. We will boost the skills of 25,000 primary and secondary school teachers with new funding for STEM teacher training.

It is really important to engage with all students at a very young level about the importance of coding, because it is the language of the future. These are smart investments and the benefits will multiply for generations. We need to equip young women with the knowledge they need to get the jobs of the future. I commend the motion to the House.

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