Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The CWA is an organisation that I've had a long involvement with through my family. Probably most prominent was my grandmother. My grandmother was one of the chairs of one of the divisions in her area. She lived at Adelong. I remember at one stage watching Four Corners. It was around the time of Germaine Greer and The Female Eunuch. On Four Corners there was a women's meeting. As I watched it I saw this lady in a big hat. She was holding forth, with a whole group of other people baying around her, trying to tear her argument limb from limb. I said to Natalie at the time, 'Look at this lady. Look at her bravery. She's standing up and really giving her position and argument, and she seems to be doing it in a very dignified way.' Then I looked at it and said, 'Hang on. That's my grandmother.' That personified what was there. My grandmother was not a shrinking violet. She was an early graduate of the University of Sydney. She had been a teacher in country areas. But her vision, I suppose at that time portrayed through the CWA, was that you can get a long way by being dignified and emotionally sober and presenting a point of view, and people will listen to that more than they will listen to volume. I suppose I should have taken more notice of her.

The CWA was formed in 1922. It's slightly younger than the National Party, so they have lived a parallel course. Its purpose, of course, was the benefit and advancement of women and children in regional areas; not exclusively regional areas, but especially regional, remote and agricultural areas. It was so vitally important in those days, as it is today, that people have the capacity to go out and meet other people and have that social interaction that alleviates some of the concerns that might be present in their minds and work to a common purpose of bringing about betterment to others.

It has a conservative moniker in 'honour to God, loyalty to the throne and service to the country'. But I suppose many members decide which parts of that they pick and choose. Service to the country, I believe, has been a pre-eminent form through that. For my grandmother, honour to God was also a strong issue. I don't know quite where she would have fitted on loyalty to the throne.

It is so incredibly important that we understand that the work of the CWA goes on. In recent times, especially with the drought, they have been exemplary in trying to do their part in getting aid, especially assistance with stock, out into the areas that have been afflicted by the drought. It is an issue that they have prevailed on, and people sometimes are cynical towards them, but as an organisation they have survived longer than others that have come and gone before them, I would dare say political parties that have come into existence and disappeared. It is a fact that sometimes there might be a cynicism about the so-called tea and scones group, the cranky women's association, all these pejoratives that might have been cast in their direction. But they are still there. In fact I think that they are growing now, probably more in urban areas than in regional areas. This in itself brings a change in the complexion and tenets of the organisation and where their motivations are. Maybe, to be quite frank, some of their political leanings have gone. That's entirely okay. Any organisation that is dynamic and can survive over a long period of time has to change with the times and evolve. The CWA is doing precisely that.

I remember the Latin quote—I think it was by Virgil—dux femina facti, which is 'the woman leads events'. That was a reflection on the queen of Carthage, Dido. That in itself has always shown that there are certain times which are pre-eminent in history and of the day, where the women will lead the events. The Country Women's Association of Australia does precisely that.

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