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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 3 Hansard (8 March) . . Page.. 711 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

are blokes. It is funny that Mr Humphries supports this system so emphatically. Let us be honest about a few things about this place.

International Women's Day, as a celebration of women's rights, is an important day on our calendar, and the debate need not have developed into a swipe across the chamber between you and us, if we had taken a bit more time to look at some of the achievements made by women in the community. At today's reception in this place I was very proud to see women recognised for their achievements, and I hope that there will be more of them. I know that there are women actively working in the community to improve women's lot, and I am sure they will get due recognition for that.

In our party - I do not know what goes on in the Liberal Party, as you would appreciate - the women's movement is strong, and they actively pursue policy issues within our policy forums to improve the lot not just of women in the Labor Party but of women generally. We think a little bit more about women's issues than just what goes on in the Labor Party. We think about women in the community.

I think my leader touched on this issue, but the Chief Minister stood up in this place boasting about the decline in union membership in Australia and the ACT. Almost in the next breath she talked about what great things she does for women. The first people hit in a predatory workplace are women. They are the first ones affected. They are the first ones who have been affected by the industrial relations system which has been introduced by the Liberal Party. They are the ones who find themselves in a weaker position, in more casualised workplaces and in outwork. They find themselves with lower incomes as a result of these sorts of practices.

A smart-alec press release and a nice speech are just not good enough. You have to be judged by your actions. If you look at what you have done federally and what you have done here, you have failed. You have failed not only women across this nation but women in the ACT.

MR STEFANIAK (Minister for Education) (4.43): One thing I agree with Mr Berry on is that this has become a slanging match across the table. When you have a number of stupid comments, I suppose that is inevitable. I have heard a lot of self-justification from the Labor Party in the last few speeches. They told us that they have done a good job in preselecting women and that if we had their system there would be a lot more women in the Assembly. They are embarrassed because there are six blokes over there. They do not have a woman member. We have a female Chief Minister, and a very good one at that.

Before I get to some of the more positive comments that one could make on this day, I also say to Mr Berry, who made a number of points about abortion, that he again presented only one side. I remind him that many women in our community do not like the idea of abortion and are in fact against abortion. It is not just a one-way street. Again, he has put simply one position.

Mr Speaker, let us look at a few positives. Firstly, might I assist Mr Stanhope? He said that maybe I could correct some figures he gave. He thought there had been a drop of a couple of percentage points in the number of girls who complete Year 12. It usually

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