Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Friday, I joined Ged Kearney at Preston High School and got to speak to a bunch of students, mothers and grandmothers about International Women's Day. We discussed equality and equity in the context of International Women's Day and what it means for First Nations women. It's so fantastic to see the strength of these women and their intelligent considerations of equality, and it was great to be having conversations with a bunch of women about the difference between equality and equity.

I travel around Victoria and I get to speak to so many women across our great state, and I'm in awe of the calibre of women that we have. I want to give a shout-out to a couple of women who I've had amazing conversations with recently: Gina Rushton, Isy Oderberg and Karen Pickering, with whom I discussed the complexities of motherhood at a panel on Friday. We talked about the range of considerations that women make before they decide to have a baby and all the challenges that we experience once we do. I want to give a shout-out to Daphne Yarram at Yoowinna Wurnalung Healing Service in East Gippsland, whose service does incredible work with the Aboriginal community out that way, with domestic violence, sexual assault and a whole bunch of things to support the healing of the community out there; to the team at the Bouverie Centre, a campus of La Trobe University, with Aunty Di Kerr, Jenn McIntosh, Banu Moloney, Robyne Latham, Sian McLean and Kerry Proctor; and to the fantastic young women I met on Friday.

While I'm so absolutely cup-full talking to these incredible women, we still have a long way to go when it comes to equity in our country. We must continue to work to make sure that First Nations women and women of colour in our country are treated with care and the respect they deserve.