Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the importance of International Women's Day on 8 March and the work the Morrison government has been doing to improve the lives of women. We still have a lot of work to do but we are committed to making record investments in women's safety, economic security, leadership and equality. On leadership, I'm really proud that, in my class of 2019, we had a fifty-fifty induction of women and men into the parliament—without quotas.

Locally, in my community of Lindsay, I'm committed to supporting issues particularly around domestic violence. I delivered funding for specialist domestic violence caseworkers at health centres and had that funding extended. Unfortunately, Penrith consistently ranks as one of the top LGAs in New South Wales when it comes to domestic violence. That is a list no-one wants to be on and we have so much more work to be done.

I've also delivered funding for the PCYC Mums and Bubs program helping local mothers connect and meet through exercise programs and for lighting along the Nepean River to improve safety. I particularly had women and families in mind when I committed this funding as part of an election commitment.

International Women's Day is a day to celebrate how far women's equality has come. But as Nicolle Flint, the member for Boothby, eloquently outlined today in her valedictory speech, the journey surely is not over.

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