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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 1 Hansard (13 December) . . Page.. 197 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

Through my personal contact with Helen, working with her, I benefited from her connectedness, her caring, and her free thinking.

Members may remember controversy in the last Assembly over a bus ad, an ad for a hair and nail salon that used the image of a naked woman. ACTION did not want it on the bus, and the then minister did not want it on buses, although there have been all over the buses images of fully dressed women who look more sexualised.

There was controversy, and when I first discussed it with Helen she was dubious of the use of a naked woman, as were other women with whom I discussed it. However, after seeing the image, Helen was excited about it, for different reasons. She was prepared to stand up and fight for the salon manager's vision of the image as a positive representation of women: not a waif, not violated, and not a sex object. There were other women-other feminists-who saw that image as sexualised. Helen was prepared to stand up and argue the case. That energy, preparedness to challenge, and bravery-that positive power-are extremely precious in our community.

Many women's tributes speak of Helen's humour, her attention to working with people, and her sense of being on a journey together. Social change is a long and difficult process. It requires a deep transformation personally, and of formal structures of all kinds in society. It has to be creative and, for all this, partnership, friendship and humour are fundamental.

When one of my part-time staff members let her know that I could not make it to an event, Helen said, "Well, what about you? You can't afford it this week? I will pay." Helen made things happen in creative ways. She was a tremendous force.

To give some examples of Helen's work, I would like to mention two of the feminist projects of which she was a part. For the National Women's Media Centre, Helen was the web editor and certainly the person who introduced me, and many others I am sure, to the project. The National Women's Media Centre is "the only national women's organisation dedicated to developing a media ethic in Australia that assumes equality of women and men in all aspects of its operations". This web site, and the project behind it, has links to women with expertise and experience in public life and making the media work.

On this site, there are essays, discussions, help to start writing letters, journalists to contact, links to spokeswomen-no more excuses for journalists who do not contact women-and other useful, stimulating pages, including the women's history month page. A concrete product of women's history month is a fabulous web page, which encourages participation and debate, and inspires, celebrates and teaches. It is a tool for change, building a sense of achievement and of sisters in struggle.

I think it shows Helen's contribution and her wisdom. She knew the elements of change through having worked on social change so wholeheartedly and so whole-mindedly for so long.

The section of the web site called "today in history" carries instructions to bookmark this section and check it daily, keeping women's history firmly in mind. This section also includes biographies, a list of women of achievement, and a women's time line-

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