Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to support the motion of the member for Newcastle. I know from my experience at school that the girls were always much smarter than the boys and they were much more mature than the boys. But I see, as life has gone on and I go to school reunions, that more of the guys I went to school with have high-profile jobs than do the women. That is something that we need to do everything we can to change in our society, because if we are going to achieve the maximum economic potential of this nation we must ensure that everyone can achieve their maximum potential. There are so many girls I went to school with who had so much talent, so much skill and so much ability. We have to make sure that girls are not denied some of the opportunities that they have been denied in the past. There are some things that we really need to look at, not just in Australia but also around the world, if we are going to make sure that all young girls have full opportunities.

The first issue is that of forced marriages. We hear in our country today of young girls being taken offshore and sent back to the Middle East to engage in forced marriages. That is something that we, as members of parliament, have an obligation to speak out against. Every person, irrespective of their sex, should be able to choose the partner that they wish to married. We must all rise and keep that voice going against forced marriages.

The second issue is that of female genital mutilation. Some people say this is akin to male circumcision, but we must say what it is—it is mutilation. It is a gross abuse of the rights of young girls and women. We have seen examples of it in the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne; it is not something we see practised only in the Third World. Again, we, as parliamentarians, must speak out against that.

The third issue that I would like to raise is about how we can improve the wellbeing of and opportunities for women in our society. A fortnight ago, I had the pleasure of travelling to Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic located between the Soviet Union and Iran. Azerbaijan is a majority Islamic country but its people are very proud of the rights they have given to women. In fact, there is a statue in the centre of Baku which celebrates women's suffrage. That is because Azerbaijan was the first Islamic country in the world to give women the right to vote. That statue has a woman removing her headscarf to show her face because if your face remains covered in any way so that you cannot make facial contact and your facial expression cannot be seen, you cannot make a full contribution to the society you are a part of. Although I do not want to see in this country any law that defines how people should be dressed, I do not want to see a situation where women are forced, against their will, to wear any garment that prevents them having the opportunity to become full participants in our society.

These are not just problems for around the world. These are problems that we have here in Australia. There is much that we can do to ensure that our girls have equal opportunity. I have a young daughter and I want to see her grow up. I want to see her have every opportunity that this great country offers. I want her to succeed on her merits and not be held back in any way because of her success. This motion is one way to help us to do that. I congratulate the member for bringing it to the House.

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