Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

For this year's International Women's Day I will be hosting the Inaugural Women of Lindsay Awards in Penrith to celebrate the incredible and dedicated work of the women in my community who are achieving remarkable things despite the many barriers. I have established these awards to recognise and pay tribute to the amazing women we have in our community who do not receive nearly enough praise for their important work. The awards will be presented over breakfast at the Lakeside Restaurant, and we will be joined by special guest Annabelle Daniel, who is the CEO of Women's Community Shelters.

This is an organisation that has partnered with communities to fill the gap between the huge demand for services for women fleeing domestic violence, and the over-crowded, underfunded shelters that have borne the brunt of state and federal Liberal government cuts. We are so lucky to have Annabelle join us, and I look forward to sharing the event and her story.

I would also like to make a brief mention of the International Women's Day breakfast I attended this morning at Parliament House along with a number of my colleagues, including Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten, who launched our new policy and strategy for women, called Setting the Agenda, through the status of women committee, which I am proudly the secretary of, to address the one in three women who experience family violence, the 17 per cent gender pay gap and all the other barriers women are facing.

In particular I would also like to thank the President of the UN Women National Committee Australia, Elizabeth Shaw, who joined with us to celebrate the important work happening right now to improve gender equality not just in Australia but throughout the world.

I want to reflect on the Prime Minister and his speech today where he talked about making sure there is fifty-fifty representation on government boards and cannot achieve it in his own party. (Time expired)

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