Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This year, 26 September marks 30 years since the Labor Party adopted affirmative action quotas for women. Over 50 per cent of all Labor members of parliament across this nation are women. This stands in contrast to the parties that form the coalition, those opposite, in this parliament. The Liberal Party has recorded its lowest female representation in parliament since 1993, and that is less than one-third.

Personally, I have benefited a great deal from the guidance and counsel of many women during my career, such as Janelle Saffin, the former member for Page in this place and a current New South Wales Minister, and former NT senator Trish Crossin. I also acknowledge my groundbreaking colleagues of the Northern Territory, including Clare Martin, who was the first female NT Chief Minister, and my friend Nova Peris, who was the first Indigenous woman elected to the Senate. Selena Uibo has just become the first Aboriginal woman to lead a major political party in Australia, building on the great work of my parliamentary colleagues from the Territory, the member for Lingiari and Senator Malarndirri McCarthy.

I'm very proud to be a member of the great Australian Labor Party. We include Australian women in every aspect of policy development and leadership, and we are all the better for it.