Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to congratulate the Women's Circus in Footscray in my electorate on their 25th anniversary and acknowledge the important work that they have done for our community. The Women's Circus—a long-time feature of the Footscray Drill Hall—is a not-for-profit arts organisation that was founded to offer the survivors of domestic violence or abuse circus and performance training as a vehicle for personal empowerment and change. The circus training and creative programs nurture self-awareness and self-esteem in the participants.

The Women's Circus works with a huge cross-section of the community, offering 18 classes a week to more than 300 women. It even provides training sessions for girls in our schools. Since its establishment, the Women's Circus has not just provided circus training for women of all ages, levels and backgrounds. It has also offered a community of support for women to heal, connect and grow, while also producing socially engaged arts projects for women and their communities. The values of the Women's Circus reflect the vitality of the western suburbs of Melbourne—values like inclusion, empowerment, imagination and innovation. These are values that help bind our community together, helping individuals overcome social barriers, cultural differences, disadvantages or disability.

Earlier this year I was pleased to have been able to give the Women's Circus a $500 grant to improve signage and security at the drill hall as part of the Gellibrand stronger communities program. While I was there I gave some of the circus classes a go. I am sorry to say that I was the one needing healing afterwards. In the days after my visit I discovered aches in muscles that I did not even know I had. But the Women's Circus's 25th anniversary celebrations include the Stories in Motion exhibition at the Footscray Community Arts Centre which will feature photos, oral histories and memorabilia from the circus's past theatrical productions. The celebrations will also include a performance of the Penelopiad at the drill hall, adapting Margaret Atwood's book retelling the myth of Penelope from the Odyssey. It is a very appropriate subject for an organisation that has done so much to give voice to women who have been silenced by men and their societies in which they live.

In the spirit of giving voice to women that the Women's Circus was founded to realise, I want to give time today to acknowledge each of women currently involved in the Women's Circus individually. In particular, I want to thank the current board, chair Annette Hughes, deputy chair Jodie Granger, Siobhan Hennessy, Jane Sargent, Karen Hofer, Felicity Cull, Stephanie Watt, the Women's Circus staff Morgan Aldrich, Betty Musgrove, Natalie Grigg, Steph Kehoe and executive director Devon Taylor. I want to thank the Women's Circus resident trainer and head rigger Franca Stadler—who has also taken on the enormous challenge of training my three-year-old son in recent years—and all of the circus's trainers. Finally, I thank the founder of the Women's Circus, Donna Jackson, and everyone else has been involved in the Women's Circus over the past 30 years. Thank you. Congratulations for the work that you have done to make our community a more inclusive place. I look forward to 25 more years of your work in our community to come.

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