Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Jasiri Australia's Girls Takeover Parliament program is a bipartisan program which pairs young women with politicians to ensure their voices and opinions get heard. It is a program which demonstrates to the world the benefits of unleashing girls' potential and aims to inspire more women to engage in politics. Women and girls make up the majority of the world's population, yet globally they hold only 23.8 per cent of all parliamentary positions. Here in Australia, just 28.3 per cent of our House of Representatives and only 38.7 per cent of our Senate is female.

Jasiri Australia wants young girls and women from all backgrounds to look at political systems, see themselves represented and see people who inspire them and show them that they can do it. This year I am participating in the program for the second time as mentor to Caitlin Liddle, who joins me here in the chamber today. She is a young Indigenous woman from the Bundjalung nation. Caitlin is a university student who has a passion for policy, politics and Indigenous rights. Caitlin has shared with me her aspirations to one day work in this parliament and to hold my position. It is programs such as these that allow young women such as Caitlin to gain the confidence and networking essential for a career in politics. I wish Caitlin well and thank her for writing this speech.

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