Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Senator Cash, I table a ministerial statement on the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

The statement read as follows—

Statement by the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women,

Senator the Hon Michaelia Cash

59th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

14 May 2015

It was my privilege to lead the Australian Government delegation to the 59th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (the Commission) from 9-12 March 2015. This year marked the 20th anniversary of the signing of the historic Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing Declaration).

The Australian Government delegation included Australia's Ambassador for Women and Girls, Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner, and two representatives from civil society.

The 59th Session of the Commission presented the unique opportunity to reflect upon the progress made in the two decades since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and recognise just how important it is that we continue our efforts to realise gender equality in Australia and around the world.

In the context of current international concerns, the Commission also presented a timely reminder that our work is far from finished.

Women and girls continue to be kidnaped, raped and tortured in conflict situations.

One in three women around the world is still subjected to physical violence and abuse.

These insidious truths cannot be tolerated in the 21st Century and demand our national attention, as well as solidarity between members of the international community.

As a nation, Australia has influence in the global fight for gender equality and we are unwavering in our commitment to the empowerment of women and girls.

As head of the delegation, I delivered Australia's national statement reinforcing our commitment to the Beijing Declaration. In addressing the Commission, I reflected upon the progress made, as well as the challenges remaining, in implementing the agreement in our own backyard, in the Asia-Pacific and across all nations.

Globally, we are at a critical moment in the formation of the post-2015 development agenda. In addressing the Commission, I advocated for the adoption of a stand-alone sustainable development goal on gender with a view to achieving transformative change.

My statement also highlighted the barriers which remain in addressing the 12 Critical Areas of Concern for achieving gender equality identified in the Beijing Declaration. Violence against women and girls continues to be a pervasive social scourge from which no nation is immune. Australia works in close cooperation with our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region on this important issue. On a national level, Australia has taken important steps to address gendered violence, including:

National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children2010-2022

Domestic and Family Violence Reduction Strategy

I again expressed Australia's commitment to eradicating violence against women and girls in the form of harmful traditional, cultural and religious practices. We have joined an international movement of States calling to end such practices, including the intolerable practice of Female Genital Mutilation.

Whilst at the Commission, I took the opportunity to draw attention to recent national achievements targeted at improving gender equality. I highlighted the Government's commitment to encouraging women's workforce participation and the recent agreement of G20 Member States to increase the number of women in the workforce by 25 per cent by 2025.

I also reiterated Australia's strong working relationship with civil society, noting that a strong civil society presence at international forums is vital to its decision-making and to ensuring that gender equality and women's advancement remains at the forefront of international policy discussions.

As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration, it is important to acknowledge the bitter disappointment felt by many around the world that we are still trying to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

Enough is enough.

Until discrimination, gendered violence and inequality truly become the relics of history, Australia will continue to campaign at the forefront of the global fight for gender equality.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

We acknowledge the report that the minister has provided on the Commission on the Status of Women. We did have a strong representation at this meeting. We are very, very supportive of the minister's position on the strong support for a sustainable development goal that looks particularly at issues of women. This is something we have been working towards for a long time. We acknowledge that report, and the statement issued by the minister; however, I want to make short comment today about the process of how we have made this report.

We have had a focus on the Beijing platform. As we all know, this year is the anniversary of the Beijing conference on women. I have made a couple of speeches in this place about that platform, and this year the CSW is focusing on that. In particular, the Beijing platform looked at empowering women across the world. One of the key aspects of that was to provide effective support for women across the world through education, health and also in child rearing and childbearing. That is something which Australia has been very strong in our aid program over many years.

I am troubled by the fact that we get a report from the CSW at the same time as our international aid program has been slashed, particularly in the areas across African nations and in the Middle East. In each of those regions, particular programs of aid support have been focused on women—on education, on health and also on the safety and the health of women, newly-born children and also women who are pregnant and on their health at that time. I am deeply concerned that currently, as a result of decisions made in the budget focus, those programs have been slashed. That puts us in a questionable position when we go to international fora and talk about commitments Australia has made to ensure that women are empowered and safe, using the Beijing platform as the basis for that. Now that we are not going to be, I believe, taking up our international responsibilities effectively is something which I do not think we should be proud of.

I am using the opportunity of a report on CSW because it was an immediate link. The timing of the report on the CSW at the same time we have had these cuts is disturbing and upsetting. I know that in New York there was no consideration or mention of the fact that the Australian government was going to be pulling back in these areas. We have been applauded and there has been respect for the work we have done. In fact, the role of Australia internationally and how we have been strong in these areas has been one of the issues that has been spoken about most. We are no longer strong in these areas.

I also wish to note my concern about changes to things like paid parental leave. I know that at the G20 recently, which was reported on at the CSW, there was a commitment led by Australia to ensure that we would increase the engagement of women in the workplace. This is something of which we can duly be proud. However, now in post-budget, which is just after our statement in New York, we are pulling back in these areas. Whilst I admire the statement that we made, whilst I admire the contributions that were made and the strength that was put by the Australian delegation in New York, I believe that subsequently our position—not just in Australia, but internationally—has been significantly weakened. I believe there will be more speakers on this point.

Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too want to make a few comments regarding the ministerial statement presented on behalf of the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Senator the Hon. Michaelia Cash.

I note that the Commission on the Status of Women is the principal global intergovernmental body that is dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Like Senator Moore, I would like to acknowledge the work of all the people who attended the CSW meeting in New York, to which the ministerial statement refers. However, I would also like to note that Australia is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW—and proudly so.

One of the articles in that convention is the right to 'maternity leave', as it is called in the convention. The convention states that in order to prevent discrimination against women on the grounds of marriage or maternity and to ensure their effective right to work, states parties to the convention shall take appropriate measures to do a number of things—in particular:

To introduce maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits without loss of former employment, seniority or social allowances;

That is partly why the Labor Party introduced the first state funded paid parental leave scheme into Australia—a fact of which I am very proud. So it was very disturbing to hear this week, in a discussion about the federal budget, members of the Abbott government refer to women who access paid parental leave as rorting the system and committing fraud. I think that it is a dreadful thing to say about women who access their rights and entitlements that are enshrined in international law as well as in Australian law. It is dreadful that people in the Abbott government, including ministers, should refer to women who access their legal entitlements as committing fraud and as being rorters.

I also think that it is appalling that the minister who just had this statement tabled on her behalf, the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, has been vacant in this debate about the attacks on paid parental leave by the Abbott government. It is all very well for her to stand up here and present this report, but where is she defending women who have accessed their legal entitlements to paid parental leave? Perhaps this is a symptom of the fact that in Australia the current minister for women is the Prime Minister, who is a man. If people in this place do not think that that is a joke internationally then I suggest they listen to how Australia is viewed in that regard.

We have a Prime Minister, who is a man, who is the minister for women. That is part the embarrassing reason why, this week, we have seen attacks on women who access the legal international entitlement to paid parental leave.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, too, rise to speak on the report just tabled in relation to the 59th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and put my commendation to the fantastic work that is done by this particular body. I also reiterate that as a nation Australia has influence in the global fight for gender equality, and we are unwavering in our commitment to the empowerment of women and girls.

I cannot allow the comments made previously to go undefended. The Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women, Minister Cash, has been an extraordinarily strong advocate for gender equality for all women, not just in Australia but around the world. To say that she has been absent from this space is an absolute travesty and those opposite should be ashamed to stand up here and condemn somebody like her. I have never seen anybody who is more committed to finding an outcome and delivering gender equality and making sure that women and girls around the world are treated in the manner we would expect those that live in Australia to be treated.

I also take issue with this constant carping on about the paid parental leave. When this government put the paid parental scheme out into the market for comment—when we came into government—it was soundly howled down by those opposite. The Prime Minister has listened to the comments that came from his members in this place but also from the public of Australia. Absolutely overwhelmingly the people of Australia called on this government to assist them with childcare so that they would be able to get back into the workforce when—and as soon as—they chose to. It seemed, almost to a T, that every woman out there who wished to go back to work saw that the lack of accessibility and affordability of childcare was the thing that was stopping her.

Because the Prime Minister and this government listens to what the people of Australia have to say, a decision was made in this budget to put a families package together which included very generous rebates for childcare—because that is what the mothers of Australia asked for. So I think it is a little hypocritical of those opposite to come in here, carping on about the paid parental leave scheme and the changes in the budget in relation to that space, when it was them who condemned the paid parental scheme that was put into this place by the Abbott government.

In conclusion, I would like to stay that today a report has been tabled—an important international report that deals with some very significant international issues, such as the continued kidnap, rape and torture of women in other countries. There is an acknowledgement that whilst we have come a long way in this space there is still an awful long way to go. To seek to politicise this report instead of coming in here and, in a united fashion, commend this report and the actions of this particular institution and the body of work that it has conducted, is entirely shameful. I must say that I would like to put on the record that I think it is a fantastic report. I commend the minister for the work that she does in this space. It is a privilege to be able to speak about this report.

Question agreed to.