Page 186 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 May 1989
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years. In the department in which I was working at the time, amongst keyboard operators some 60 per cent suffered repetition strain injury. That is an occupational health story which I believe is really reprehensible in this day and age, that 60 per cent of those workers were firstly exposed to that risk, and once they had contracted this debilitating condition the sort of rehabilitation and facilities that were offered to them were very slow in coming.
It was a long time before that was recognised as a real occupational health issue and one that needed to be addressed. So I look first of all to the occupational health and safety legislation to address some of the issues of women's health and safety in the workplace.
Another area which will have an impact on women in the work force is the Government's intention to introduce anti-discrimination legislation. This is another area where the ACT stands alone, in having no access for the citizens of this place to make a complaint about discrimination. That is the kind of record of which I do not think we can be very proud in the ACT and which we must move very quickly to address.
It is a fact that in other States complaints about discrimination in the overwhelming number of cases are from married women in the work force. The majority of complaints about discrimination are from married women and are to do with their employment. So by introducing anti-discrimination legislation, by bringing in some anti-discrimination machinery, we can really address, at least to some extent, the position of women in the work force.
My colleague the Minister for Community Services and Health will be outlining some of the programs that he has taken on board in the area of women's health. I think that is another important area for upgrading the whole position of women in our community.
One issue with which I would like to deal specifically is the question of women's representation on the kinds of boards and committees that tend to proliferate in the ACT, as they do elsewhere. It seems to me that there is absolutely no reason why those boards and committees should be predominantly male. I do not believe anybody would seriously propose that women are in any way less able or less qualified to make an equal contribution to the work of those boards.
So I am happy to inform the Assembly that it is this Government's intention that 50 per cent of such appointments will be to women. I would expect any member of the Assembly proposing a nomination for appointment to a board or committee to bear that in mind because it is a very real target and something that the Government will be doing. We will be appointing women to at least half of the positions on all of those boards and committees over which we have control.
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