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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (8 March) . . Page.. 696 ..

MS CARNELL (continuing):

The data also shows that more women are now working in small business, taking advantage of the emerging opportunities as changes occur in the structure of the ACT economy and we see a shift to the private sector. The success of Canberra businesses in moving into national and global markets will be important in providing future growth in the Canberra economy. It appears that the future labour market will be much more dynamic and will require employees to be more flexible to change.

The Canberra community enjoys a wonderfully diverse and interesting cultural life, and ACT women participate in cultural and leisure activities more than their counterparts nationally. The health status of ACT women is also generally better than the national average, and ACT women take more health-related actions. While women here have a very high level of participation in sport and recreation activities (55.7 per cent) compared with the national average of 43 per cent, this is still much lower than the rate for ACT men, which is 71.5 per cent.

Women in the ACT have higher average income levels than the national average, mainly because of higher education levels and the nature of the work in the ACT. However, women in the ACT still earn less than men in similar occupations and industries, with the earning gap being larger in the lower-skilled occupations and service-oriented industries. This should gradually improve as the proportion of women with better education and tertiary qualifications continues to grow and more flexible employment opportunities become available for women.

The increasing participation of women in the ACT work force has also enabled many women to obtain an independent source of income and access to the future advantages of superannuation benefits after retirement. The impact of social and family changes, together with the fact that women have a longer life span, makes it very important for them to be encouraged and supported to plan their working lives and, where possible, to have an independent income, particularly after retirement and in old age.

While the recordings by authorities of the various forms of crime generally show that reported crime against women is lower in the ACT than the national average, many women in the community are concerned for their safety. This concern is higher than the national average for women in Australia. So it is very important that we pay attention to the statistics about women's feelings of lack of safety and the implications these feelings have on their participation in the life of the community.

I have highlighted only some of the findings of "Women in the ACT". While it is clear that many ACT women are doing very well, the Government is also aware of those who do not share equally in these benefits, and we are conscious of the issues that need to be addressed. In announcing that the Government will develop an action plan for women, the Government identified a range of initiatives that would contribute to improving the status of women in the ACT in the future. A key element of the plan was to undertake an audit of ACT government programs. This was done last year and was crucial in establishing some benchmarks to identify what is working well and showing good outcomes for women and also which actions should be developed and implemented in the future.

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