Page 357 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 23 February 1993
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I feel sure that the average woman does not relate to many of the reviews, the committees, the talkfests, the reports on women and women's issues that we hear constantly in this place. Most of these activities bear little relevance to the real world in which women live. The massive amount of money spent on promoting "women's issues" in reality has very little success. The Chief Minister earlier made comments about the Federal Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Yes, it is true that a coalition government would look at getting rid of that area. I am amazed that the Chief Minister would believe that setting up a bureaucracy was in some way going to affect the lives of the women out at Tuggeranong, at Belconnen and elsewhere. I am amazed that she believes that the women in those sorts of ivory tower positions really make a difference to the issues that concern women out there.
There is a tendency for those on the Labor side of politics to concentrate their efforts on the obvious, the more vocal, and often the less representative groups in the community. This is almost certainly the case when it comes to issues affecting women. Labor policy is directed towards the more vocal activists, while the large silent majority of women go forgotten. The Labor Party promotes itself as the saviour of women's rights when the fact is that it is ignoring the vast majority of the women out there that do not have time to worry about community, about breakfasts.
Last week in the house the Chief Minister made a commitment to produce a social justice budget statement as part of the budget process this year. Unfortunately, producing another document at substantial cost will do nothing to improve the lot of Canberra women. One of the most important things for Canberra women is to have real choice, to be able to make decisions and not to have the decisions of others imposed upon them. Without real choice, women will never be able to fulfil their potential really to be equal. Women must have the choice on whether they join the work force or whether they stay home to look after their children. They must have the opportunity to compete on an equal footing in the workplace and they must have the opportunity to buy their own homes and to become financially independent.
They should have the right to choose the lifestyle that most suits them and their families and they should not become economic conscripts - women who have to work even though they would rather stay at home and look after their children. They should have access to employment as well if they choose to have it, to both full- and part-time and casual employment. They should have access to flexible working hours, hours that will allow women better to schedule both work and family commitments. The unions will not allow this. Unions do not represent women in the workplace well at all. Women also must have access to education, to training and to quality health care.
Women in business should be encouraged by a system which allows their businesses to grow and to prosper, free from government intrusion and red tape and the current crippling tax burden. It is no use whatsoever to have courses or to have seminars to encourage women into small business if when they get there the only road ahead is to go broke. Older women should be confident that in their later years they will have financial security, respect and safety as well. Without the ability to choose for themselves, as I said earlier, women will never have real equality. Labor has failed the women of Canberra, and I suggest that we could actually make that a wider statement: I think Labor has failed women across the board.
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