Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On Friday 8 March we celebrated International Women's Day. I want to give a shout-out to two local International Women's Day events that I proudly attended. In the morning, I attended the IWD breakfast at Nowra High School, where I was proud to deliver the keynote address. It's been 42 years since I started year 7 at Nowra High School, and I couldn't think of anything more delightful than returning to my old school on International Women's Day. I was met by the very capable young female student leaders, teachers and community members. I was particularly impressed by the diversity of community members attending from many local organisations, like health, housing and homelessness workers, and a good contingent of women from HMAS Albatross and HMAS Creswell. And it was great to hear from previous student Lisa Horner.

My next IWD event was at Willinga Park, Bawley Point, and was hosted by the Women's Connection of Milton Ulladulla. It was so lovely to see over 100 women from right across our region at this event, from local women as Rural Fire Service volunteers to workers, business owners and many local organisations. Surfing legend and local Pam Burridge was the guest speaker, and Pam talked about her very real and interesting endeavours to achieve equality for female surfers. As one of the organisers said, we don't have to go too far to find inspirational women in our community. Congrats, Nowra High School and the Women's Connection of Milton Ulladulla.

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