Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion regarding International Women's Day, which is celebrated annually on 8 March. I thank the member for Newcastle for bringing this motion to the House and for drawing attention to the very important day that is 8 March each year.

In my electorate of Hughes I was delighted this year to host a morning tea for more than 120 women who came together to celebrate International Women's Day. We also had quite a number of men in the room, which was great. It was an opportunity for us—the women of Hughes, the women of the shire, the women of southern Sydney—to recognise the achievements of women locally and how those achievements then feed into us progressing nationally and globally.

The theme this year for International Women's Day was 'Count her in: invest in women. Accelerate progress.' I took that as an opportunity to look at where we have come as a country and where we are currently placed. I will just mention a few stats, numbers and years. In 1902 Australia become only the second country to give women over the age of 18 the vote. Unfortunately, Indigenous women were not included in that number for decades to come. But we were the second country in the world. In 1943 Senator Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons became the first women elected into federal parliament. Women currently make up 51 per cent of our great country. Seventy per cent of carers in Australia are women. I actually checked that number, because I thought it might have been a little bit low, but it is apparently 70 per cent. Our national pay gap is 12 per cent. Women still retire on significantly less than men—about two-thirds. Among G20 nations, Australia ranks eighth for rates of domestic and family violence against women, but Australia has jumped up 17 places from 43rd to 26th on the global gender equality rankings.

We're in a position in 2024 where there is both a lot of good news but still a significant amount that we need to do. I thought therefore this would be an opportunity for me to mention particularly the range of different achievements of women across my electorate. As I said, the contributions that women make locally, which are often not recognised, feed into our contributions nationally, and that is how we can change things globally for women. I've mentioned before in this parliament the four women who were awarded my Hughes awards this year. A posthumous honour was given to Kim Livingstone. Young Woman of the Year was Tash Ransford. Woman of the Year was Paula Smith. Senior Woman of the Year was Jane Bell. But I will take this opportunity to mention just some of the women who were also nominated.

They included Sandra Hillyer, for salvaging food that would otherwise have gone to waste and delivering it to over a hundred needy families weekly for the last few years; Rachel Moore, for her commitment to education around First Nations people and culture; Claire Walsh, for revitalising the Holsworthy unit of the Girl Guides; Leanne Fretten, for her advocacy for disability rights, through Mikarie child care centre and Sylvanvale; Kellie Stubbs, for founding a local women's support group as well as actively promoting mental health through the Gotcha4Life program; Sue Kelly, for fostering more than 200 children and running a support group for foster carers; Kathryn Brennan, for her 12 years in a foundational and instrumental role at charity group Dandelion; Brooke Jensen, for raising over $400,000 for breast cancer research; Jillian Critchley, for her roles in Scouting, coral societies and educational institutions locally; Debbie Jin, for her commitment to classical music and her pivotal role as a concertmaster and soloist with the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra; Bronte Hendricks, for working with young adults with special needs and coordinating and co-founding the group Stellar Experiences; Kynwyn Thompson, for her role in the Wearne Bay Scout group at Illawong; Cheryl Scott, for her role over nearly four decades with Engadine District Girl Guides; Indiana Brown, for her contributions at the University of New South Wales in the mechanical engineering society and her role as ANSTO's engineering cadet; and Ashleigh Daines, from the Family Co., who has supported over 15,000 community members each year, particularly in the domestic and family violence area. And the list goes on and on. Across my electorate, this is just a small sample of the women making fabulous contributions, often unrecognised, day after day. These are the sorts of contributions we see that progress women both nationally and globally.

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