Page 744 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 8 March 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MS FITZHARRIS (Molonglo—Minister for Higher Education, Training and Research, Minister for Transport and Municipal Services and Assistant Minister for Health) (11.47): I, too, would like to thank Minister Berry for moving this important motion today. Minister Berry, as we all know, is a very strong advocate for women in our community. Her persistence and her work on a range of issues, raising women’s issues and bringing women’s voices to the fore, has ensured that Canberra women have an even stronger voice, across our own government and indeed across the national stage, in her ministerial capacity.
As she and others have noted, Canberra is not immune to issues of gender inequality or, sadly, violence against women. There still remains an issue of women being over-represented in low income households. The average woman will retire with about half the super balance of the average man. And over 12 months, on average, one woman is killed every week as a result of intimate partner violence.
Madam Speaker, we still have a long way to go when we consider some of these issues. International Women’s Day gives us all an opportunity to remind ourselves of the fight we still have ahead of us when it comes to equality and respecting women in our community. But it is also a chance to reflect on the significant contribution that women make to our city and the vision many women have to make Canberra a better place for all of us. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come.
In Mr Hinder’s inaugural speech earlier he shared his mum’s own experience of legislation—laws that meant he was separated from his family at a young age. In my own family we experienced the same impact of legislation. My mother, in her primary years, had a father who left the family home, with no benefits and no legislation to support in any way women with the sole responsibility for caring for their children. She was left largely to fend for herself while her mother had to go out and earn a living. Later on in life, when she met my father, who was a young policeman, it was not until the police force had approved of my mother as a potential wife that they were allowed to get married and my father was allowed to remain in the police force. Sadly for him, some of his colleagues’ future wives were not approved, and they subsequently left the police force. I am glad that we have moved on. That was only in my short lifetime, some 40 years ago.
Women have shaped and will continue to shape our community. As the new minister for transport, in particular, I am lucky to work with some very talented women who are shaping our city’s future. Women make up around 14 per cent of the transport industry’s workforce, but things are gradually changing. We have more women bus drivers than ever before, and just last month I was delighted to announce that Emma Thomas will be the inaugural director-general of transport Canberra. From 1 July 2016, Emma will oversee this new agency and the next phase of Canberra’s public transport journey. Her role will be to bring together the Capital Metro Agency, ACTION and elements of the Territory and Municipal Services public transport group.
Prior to moving to Canberra, Emma was the State Rail Commissioner for South Australia and Deputy Chief Executive of Public Transport. Her previous experience has also included vice-president roles at Boeing and senior roles in Transport and
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video