Page 746 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 8 March 2016
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time with their family, so this is a win-win for mums, dads, children and families across the city. Well-maintained public footpaths that are well lit, and safe cycle lanes, are also vital for giving women safe access around our city.
I am proud to say that this government is committed to creating better public spaces around our city. Recently we began consultation with elderly residents in Kaleen and Monash following consultations in Ainslie and Weston. Many of the people participating in this consultation are older women. They are telling us about the ways that they would like to move around their suburbs more easily and safely.
We are also about to begin making vital infrastructure upgrades in Ainslie and Weston to help elderly residents get around, with a focus on path replacement, kerb ramp upgrades, new lighting and changes to pedestrian refuge islands. These will help to create more accessible suburbs, allowing women to stay healthy, active and engaged. Such improvements may seem simple, but they can go a long way to giving women, particularly older women in our community, confidence to go to the local shops or get on a bus to visit family and friends.
Public transport might not appeal to everyone, but for many women it is a vital service that connects us socially and economically. We should be doing everything we can to make sure we have a transport system in the ACT that is safe and reliable for women and children. I welcome particularly the collection of more data, outlined in this motion today, about the issues facing women in our community so we can ensure that our policies address any problems and improve outcomes for women across the ACT.
On a final note, I would like to congratulate three female entrepreneurs in our community today. Sarah Pearson from the CBR Innovation Network spoke this morning of the high numbers of female entrepreneurs coming through the Canberra innovation network. Jessica May from Enabled Employment and Michelle Melbourne from Intelledox were named as two of the nine top Australian female entrepreneurs. That is a great credit to the work of women in our community.
MS BERRY (Ginninderra—Minister for Housing, Community Services and Social Inclusion, Minister for Multicultural and Youth Affairs, Minister for Sport and Recreation and Minister for Women) (11.55), in reply: I rise to close the debate on this very important matter in this motion on International Women’s Day today. I want to thank members for their positive contributions to this conversation on this motion. It calls on the government to provide additional information as close to International Women’s Day as possible for future governments in this place. It is important for us to be able to measure the success of this government, but also to measure the success of our community.
Also, this motion has given us the opportunity to talk about some of the amazing women in our community and celebrate their successes just in this last couple of weeks. I want to reflect on some of the women in our community and the roles that they have played in giving young girls people to look up to and women to look up to for their own futures.
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