Ann Sudmalis (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I speak today to congratulate the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Hon. Julie Bishop, for the announcement made at the United Nations General Assembly on 22 September this year of the Women's Leadership Initiative. From 25-28 September I, along with Nola Marino MP, the Hon. Jane Prentice MP, Senator Moore and MPs from all over our region, attended the Pacific Women's Parliamentary Partnerships Forum in the Solomon Islands. It was there that I met the Young Women's Parliamentary Group, enthusiastic in training and being mentored by Solomon Islands MPs and others interested in promoting the participation of women in politics. There is the creation of a space that helps them engage in the process. This is an essential ingredient to encourage women into politics.

These young women have as their main focus techniques to influence policy-making. They also engage in community and voluntary organisations to get direct, on-the-ground information and develop a sphere of support. As a bonus, they love the activities they're involved in. One of these was Seif Ples, a domestic violence hub where medical help can be given, along with shelter directions and a process of counselling, and the victims have a place to begin the emotional healing. There is a well-equipped play area, gifted by the Rotary Club of Honiara. It was great to meet the young people who have chosen to volunteer and to meet Susie, who lost a leg in a shark attack but is the emotional backbone of the centre.

It's particularly important to know that the initiative presented by the minister is a five-year program to support emerging women leaders in our region. We need to have them selected from Awards scholars, and we need to mentor them, help them and encourage them. Empowering women begins with education, grows with education and can be shared with education. This starts at primary school, but then the opportunities must be grown by getting girls into high schools—perhaps by creating a facility such as Palau has done with the Centre for the Empowerment of Women. In all ways we must educate our women and provide them with a base knowledge of the structure of politics.

The women in the Pacific identified some characteristics of the five-year plan. As I said, it starts with education and awareness-raising. Then potential candidates need to be identified and prepared with activities, such as community contact and gathering supporters and volunteers. Economically empowering women will be an essential part of this, and it will be instrumental for both the potential candidates and other women leaders. I imagine that DFAT will be a significant aspect of this growth. Following this the candidates can be prepared for legislative reform and develop strong networking political partnerships.

It was clear at the conference that this initiative will be a very welcome next step in Australia's partnership with Pacific Island countries. It will help meet shared needs and challenges and support a stable, secure and prosperous region. The women need help to get political traction and then to actively develop policy that will enhance economic and social stability. The conference was attended by women who were either elected members of, past members of or past candidates for their national parliaments. There were women from Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa, Australia, Niue, Tonga, Kiribati, Palau, the Bougainville region of PNG, Nauru, PNG, Tokelau and the Solomon Islands. It was an absolute joy to meet all of these women, as well as the young women's group. It will be great to see the government-led initiative deepen our longstanding relationship with our Pacific neighbours and see these women mentored by successful female leaders, including Indigenous leaders, private sector representatives and other pioneering leaders from our region.

The empowerment of women and girls is a priority for Australia's development assistance and is fundamental to our increased engagement in the Pacific. Future gatherings such as these can be designed to develop campaigning skills, coach for public speaking and provide preparation for media interviewing, both the benefits and the traps. There can be hands-on workshops for microfinancing options and economic empowerment activities to share in the regions and links developed with the NGOs to get better outcomes overall for their actual and future constituents. Finally, this initiative can help develop strategies for women to gain their place in an elected government and then strategies to keep their place in the elected government. I sometimes think we've got an uphill battle to get into politics in Australia, but, really, the girls in the Pacific have a much harder journey. The initiative is a tremendous way to help our Pacific sisters in their quest to hold up their half of the sky. We're recognised as a regional leader. Perhaps we in Australia should be considering the best way forward to increase the female participation rate in government representation at all levels. At this moment we don't actually have the ability to hold up half the sky. There aren't enough of us to work together. I actively believe that we need to encourage young women to get into politics. I will be having a women's empowerment camp before the end of the year to help introduce them to all levels of government and skill them up, ready for the next step.

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