Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

():  Thank you very much, Senator Walsh. I'm very proud, along with all my colleagues here and in the other place, to be a member of the first federal government that has a majority of members who are women. That of course hasn't happened by accident, and we know that there are still some political parties that struggle with the role they want women to play in their political party.

We've made a very clear decision to increase the number of women, and it has paid off. We have talented women that make up 50 per cent of the Labor government. It does matter and it does change decision-making. And it means that issues like driving gender equality are a real priority.

We have consulted and we have listened to women right around the country when finalising our strategy. We had round tables, we had surveys, we took feedback from thousands of women and women's organisations to make sure that we got this strategy right. I look forward to implementing it.