Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to briefly speak about some amazing women, today, on International Women's Day. The first person I would like to acknowledge is Nicole Millis, who is the CEO of Rare Voices Australia. Nicole is somebody who advocates on behalf of many Australians with over 7,000 different types of diseases. She advocates on their behalf because we must ensure that we have not only a clinical response, when we're dealing with these rare diseases, but also a personal response. Nicole is the voice of so many Australians who haven't got the access or the ability to have voices of their own.

I also want to acknowledge Renee, who spoke today at an event. Renee lives with a rare disease, and I want to acknowledge her extraordinary bravery in standing front of a huge crowd and telling her personal story, something that cannot possibly have been easy.

I want to acknowledge all of the carers of Australia. So many of them are women. I had the privilege a couple of weeks ago of visiting the Yorke Peninsula. I met with the YP Leisure Options, which is a community group that looks after a number of young people who live either with age related health issues or are people with disability. I want to say thank you to Tanya, Jamie and Eleni for the amazing work they do. And I want to give a big shout-out to Jarrod who gave me a spin in his pushchair, to Kane who cooked steak for everyone for lunch, to Jess who has the most unforgettable smile, to Emily who's the queen of the woodshed, to super cheeky Clayton, to Wayne the snake charmer, to Georgie who does the most incredible crochet work, and to Robbie—I hope you eventually got that letter back from your sister Pat.

I want to acknowledge the amazing women who do so much for our country, the amazing women who often go unrecognised, and to say a huge thank you to them for what they do and the support they give so many people in our country that need their support. Thank you, to you all.