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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 02 Hansard (Thursday, 4 March 2004) . . Page.. 764 ..

MR SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. Some people might call it offensive, though.

Mr Stanhope: It is extremely offensive. Most of what Mrs Dunne says is extremely offensive.

MR SPEAKER: For the sake of debate, just withdraw it, please.

MRS DUNNE: Sorry—what should I withdraw?

MR SPEAKER: My understanding is that you intimated at least that the Chief Minister said that sexual servitude was not an issue.

MRS DUNNE: It was not a big issue. What I said was that it was not a big issue and that there were not very many people involved in it. If you want me to withdraw that, I will withdraw it.

MR SPEAKER: It is pretty confronting, to say that.

MRS DUNNE: I am sorry, Mr Speaker. Sexual servitude is a very confronting issue.

MR SPEAKER: Yes, but to say that—I will rule that as offensive. Please withdraw it.

MRS DUNNE: I withdraw it. Sexual servitude is offensive. Sexual servitude is a very confronting issue. For a long time in this country there were many people who tried to play it down. One of the things I would recommend to members here today, if we get a chance—it seems that we may be stopped from doing so because we may be sitting late—is to participate in one of the events of International Women’s Day, the Pamela Denoon lecture at the Coombs Lecture Theatre tonight.

That lecture will be given by Kathleen Maltzahn, who is one of the people at the coalface helping people who have got themselves involved in sexual servitude and have been brought here under duress. We should be showing our solidarity with women who are truly oppressed by attending that lecture and learning something about the issues of sexual servitude. The women who are subject to such servitude do not receive respect in their relationships.

MS TUCKER (4.02): I will speak reasonably briefly because I know other people want to contribute to this discussion. I support Mrs Dunne’s comments about the situation for women in sexual servitude in Australia. There have certainly been such women who, in the past, were thrown into detention centres. I am not sure, but perhaps the federal government has found a little more compassion since then. One well-known such case is that of the woman who died in a detention centre. In talking about women in Australia who are suffering oppression, we must include a deep regret about the many women held in detention centres under federal government policy.

In a more positive vein I would like to talk about the steps that have been taken, particularly in the field of parliamentary democracy in the Commonwealth, towards empowering women to be representatives of their communities. As a member of the

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