Page 3840 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 8 November 1994
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For the Chief Minister to go to a Commonwealth-State Ministers conference and then come back and offer this as a declaratory statement of the status of women in our community, I think, demonstrates the absolute failure not only of that conference but also of the Chief Minister.
I would like to see a comprehensive statement about where women really fit in our society; an acknowledgment of the things that they do; an acknowledgment of the status that they really have. If you add up the number of women in this place and the number of women in the ACT public service, they represent less than one per cent - perhaps .01 per cent - of all women in the ACT. If you add up all the women who are the subject of domestic violence and all the women who are caring for ageing people, disabled people or people in the community who need a bit of support, they still represent probably less than 10 per cent of the community. Where are the other 90 per cent of the women represented in this document? They are not represented at all.
This document is an indictment of the political approach that has been taken to the status of women in this country. We are concerned only about the politics of it. How good do we make women feel by giving them 50 per cent of the seats in legislative bodies? How good do we feel by giving them 50 per cent of the positions on ACT government boards and committees? Most women could not give a hoot about ACT government boards and committees; they do not want to be involved in that. They do want to be acknowledged for the contribution that they make to the good of this society that we live in. Where is that in the Chief Minister's statement? There is absolutely no mention of it at all. Quite frankly, Madam Speaker, it is a disgrace. If the 90 per cent of them that do not get a mention in this document knew what the Chief Minister thinks is important in terms of the status of women, they would be appalled; just as I would be appalled, as a man, if somebody said, "There are 10 per cent of blokes in the Assembly; 10 per cent of blokes who have jobs in the ACT public service; 10 per cent of blokes who are being subjected to domestic violence; and 5 per cent of blokes who are looking after people who are ageing, disabled or need a carer". I would feel put down. That is what this statement is about; it puts down and writes down the importance of the majority of women in our community. I would like to see something a little more substantive from this Chief Minister and this Government that has the effrontery to put forward that document under the heading "Recent developments concerning the status of women". Madam Speaker, it is a disgrace.
MS SZUTY (9.05): I take pleasure in responding to the Chief Minister's recent statement on recent developments concerning the status of women. I must admit that I did not have the negative reaction to it which Mr Kaine has had and which he has just expressed to members of this Assembly. I note that the focus of the conference which was held - I do not think we are quite sure at this stage when it was - on 6 or 7 October in South Australia was on women's participation in politics. In the Chief Minister's statement, she mentioned the roles that women occupy in this Assembly. They include the role that you, Madam Speaker, occupy; the role that the Chief Minister occupies as leader of the Government in this Territory; and the role that the Leader of the Opposition, Mrs Carnell, has in this Assembly. It is also important to note that I, as an Independent MLA, have a share in the balance of power in this Assembly; and that our two additional women members, Mrs Grassby and Ms Ellis, chair Assembly committees - notably, the Social Policy Committee and the Scrutiny of Bills Committee.
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