Susan Lamb (Longman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Good evening and 'wunya'. I just said ' hello ' to you in Gubbi Gubbi language, D eputy Sp eaker. Recently , Oxfam Australia's Straight Talk National Summit provided an opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to connect with our political system and meet with female politicians and each other right here in Parliament House. Eighty women were selected to attend this year ' s program . They come from all walks of life and from all over our country but they have one thing in common: they are passionate about bringing change to their communities.

The program promotes genuine engagement by facilitating small group s of female politicians to sit down with these women, to listen and to learn from their experiences. It give s women the chance to meet face to face with female politicians so they have the opportunity to ask about our political process. But , more importantly, it gives local representatives the chance to hear directly from women about their concerns and how we can help them achieve the hopes that they have for their communities.

As part of this year ' s program, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Tanya Plibersek , and I met with Louisa, Annette, Vera, Keisha and Stella. Many of these women, like me, grew up in North Queensland , and after spending a lot of time with them it was clear to me that we shared a number of the same values and concerns. Annette Simpson is from Brisbane and she spoke about her passion for education. She believes that education is the key to empowerment and self-determination. I know that Tanya and I very strongly believe that quality education is the key to giving Australian child ren the very best start in life. On this side of the House, we share Annette's passion and we will always fight for equality of access to education for every single Australian.

Right a cross my electorate of Longman I have seen first-hand the way in which needs based funding, such as that recommended in the Gonski r eport, provide s genuine opportunity for every child to achieve. Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek and I had the privilege of visiting Minimbah State School recently. Minimbah State School ha ve innovatively used the extra funding they needed right across the board , and now they are seeing the very best NAPLAN results ever . We really need to ensure that this needs based funding continues so that schools like Minimbah State School continue to prosper.

Keisha McEwan, from Proserpine, Queensland , currently runs a DRUMBEAT program in her local community. The DRUMBEAT program's slogan is 'B uilding resilience through rhythm ' . It is a structured learning program that combines music, psychology and neurobiology to build social and emotional resilience and build healthy relationship skills. The program is delivered across a range of settings. I know that many schools in my electorate have used the DRUMBEAT program.

The other person I would like to introduce is Stella Renagi , whom I met with as well. She is an active member of her Town s ville community . She is a workplace delegate and a dedicated public servant. She ha s been working hard in her local community , where job security is a really big issue. In her region and in my electorate of Longman , we have the unenviable distinction of a really high rate of unemployment. It is vital that we work to provide meaningful employment opportunit ies for residents in regional centres like Townsville and Caboolture. We need to make sure that the se regions are not neglected at the expense of major cities when it comes to spending on things like infrastructure and job creation.

It was a real pleasure to meet these women , and I look forward to working with them and working for them, as they bring about change to their community. This program has been running for six year s now, and I congratulate Oxfam on the work they are doing and on their many, many programs focused on empowering our Indigenous and Pacific women.

Finally, I would like to address an issue that was raised by the women in those meetings, to do with female leadership. In the face of the recent election result in America, it can be disheartening to be reminded that female leaders face many , many obstacles. The path is not always set out for women to lead. As the saying goes , you cannot be what you cannot see. But we are very fortunate in this country. We have got Deputy Leader Tanya Plibersek —she is a tremendous leader. We have also got Linda Burney and Senator McCarthy . They are all wonderful leaders , and so were the women whom I met on that day—l eaders in their communities , t hey are the backbone s of their communities. It is our job in this place to ensure that we hear their voices. It is our job to ensure they become the future leaders of this country . I am incredibly proud that it is the Australian Labor Party that is doing the heavy lifting to advance female representation.