Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 641.

Leave granted.

I add Senators Bilyk, Brockman, Brown, Dean Smith, Dodson, Faruqi, Gallagher, Green, Hanson-Young, Keneally, Kitching, Lines, M Smith, McAllister, McCarthy, McGraw, O'Neill, Polley, Pratt, Rice, Seselja, Sheldon, Siewert, Urquhart, Van, Walsh, Waters and Wong as co-sponsors of the motion. I, and also on behalf of Senators Bilyk, Brockman, Brown, Cash, Chandler, Davey, Dean Smith, Dodson, Faruqi, Fierravanti-Wells, Gallagher, Green, Hanson-Young, Henderson, Hughes, Keneally, Kitching, Lines, M Smith, McAllister, McCarthy, McDonald, McGrath, McKenzie, McMahon, O'Neill, Payne, Polley, Pratt, Reynolds, Rice, Ruston, Seselja, Sheldon, Siewert, Stoker, Urquhart, Van, Walsh, Waters and Wong, move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) Friday 12th June 2020, marks the 118th anniversary of the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, which was the first step to granting all Australian women the right to vote in national elections and stand for election to Parliament,

  (ii) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women were not able to vote until 1962, and not included in the census until the 1967 Referendum, and

  (iii) while Australia was one of the first nations to grant political rights to women, it was more than 40 years until a woman was elected into Federal Parliament – one of the longest gaps of any other nation;

  (iv) the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 was an imperfect bill that reflects historical and not contemporary thinking; and

(b) acknowledges:

  (i) the courage and fortitude of the first trail blazers, including the first woman elected to the House of Representatives, Dame Enid Lyons, and the first woman elected to the Senate, Dame Dorothy Tangney, and the first Indigenous woman elected to the House of Representatives, the Honourable Linda Burney MP, and the first Indigenous woman elected to the Senate, Nova Peris OAM, and

  (ii) the 26 women who stood unsuccessfully for federal election before 1943; the 235 women, including those here today, who have come after; and the future generations of women who will continue in the footsteps of those who have come before.

Question agreed to.