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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 4 Hansard (27 March) . . Page.. 953 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

the ACT. The achievements and participation of women are vital in making our community a better place for all of us.

It was the commitment of this government that resulted in the development of the first ACT Women's Action Plan. This was released in March last year following consultations with women and a women's audit of government programs. The plan encourages government agencies to consider that all their policies and programs should meet women's needs, and, indeed, those of all our citizens, as well as continuing to support those important government services for women such as the Women's Information and Referral Centre and the Women's Health Service.

The plan is intended to make a real difference to access, equity and representation for women in the ACT. It provides the government with a framework to maintain and review progress towards achieving its goals in partnership with women. The four key themes of the plan are representation and recognition; health and wellbeing; economic independence, continuing education and training; and violence and community safety. Since last year there has been a coordinated and collaborative process for implementation of the plan involving government agencies, the Women's Consultative Council and women in the community.

Mr Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the initiatives of the plan that have been implemented so far. In an initiative to help achieve the government's goal of equal representation of women on boards and committees, a leaflet, Women of the ACT-Come On Board, is currently being sent out with ActewAGL bills to each household in the ACT. It encourages women to seek nominations and find out more about participation in government processes. I have been advised that there continues to be a tremendous response to this initiative from women in the community.

We are maintaining our high rate of representation of women on government boards and committees, which continues to be the highest in the country at 45 per cent. That is a 3 per cent increase in the last 12 months.

Some of the health and wellbeing concerns in the plan currently being addressed include short-term generalist counselling services for women, a pilot midwifery program for indigenous women and continued support for indigenous rape crisis counsellors. Funding has also been provided to drug and alcohol services for parent and family support services to improve their capacity to support women and women with dependent children.

I am also pleased to inform you that the equity and diversity framework for the ACT public service has been finalised and that government agencies are now working to ensure that the framework meets their particular needs. This will mean that women will continue to have a strong and effective role in the ACT public service.

On 9 March this year the Minister for Education, Mr Bill Stefaniak, launched the strategy "Reaching their Potential-Women and Girls in Vocational Education and Training in the ACT 2001-2003". This is a particularly important initiative as it confirms our commitment to supporting women in enhancing their opportunities in gaining access to continuing education, training and paid work.

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