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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 8 Hansard (19 August) . . Page.. 2734 ..

MS GALLAGHER (continuing):

In 1936, at the age of 19, Betty joined the Communist Party, which had women's equality as part of its platform, and devoted her life to-in her words-"the class struggle and a style of living certainly not condoned by society at large". When Russia joined the allies in 1942, Betty campaigned with Jessie Street for Russian medical aid and comforts.

After the war, Betty was involved in working for peace and campaigns to ban the bomb. She campaigned again with Jessie Street for equal pay with the United Associations of Women. Later, she was editor at Alpha Books and in the 1960s English editor of Moscow News in Moscow. In the 1970s, she worked for New World Books and from 1975 to 1993 was editor and contributor to WomenSpeak. At the age of 72 she published her first book Silk and Calico: Class, Gender and the Vote.

Betty was a foundation member of the first women's liberation group in Sydney. She was founding president of the ACT Older Women's Network and was president of OWN (Action) from 1993 to 1996. She was appointed by the ACT Chief Minister to the ACT Women's Consultative Council from 1993 to 1995 and in 1994 was appointed to the Older Australian's Advisory Council.

She received a number of ACT and Commonwealth government awards, including the Commonwealth Recognition Award for Senior Australians in 2000 and, in 2003, as I previously mentioned, the ACT International Women's Day Award. On her 85th birthday Betty wrote, "I still believe we can achieve a better life for people around the world if we work for it, which I intend to keep doing until I depart!"

I attended Betty's funeral, where balloons and streamers in white, green and purple abounded. Family and friends gathered to remember the life of a remarkable woman. Betty had left strict instructions about her funeral, and no-one was prepared to stray from those instructions. As a woman she had faced great adversity in her life but continuously rose to fight every challenge.

Speakers at her funeral spoke of a pint-sized woman with a ferocious mind and a fearless spirit, a woman of wit and intelligence, a woman who knew how to stand up for others, a woman whose desire for equality, justice and fairness guided her in life. She was a woman who spoke her mind, usually to a degree which shocked others but for which she was also fondly known.

Because of women like Betty Searle, and the fights and campaigns they were part of, women like me have had opportunities that were denied to women of Betty's era. Younger women should never forget the campaigns undertaken by women like Betty to improve women's rights. We respect their wins, and we accept the challenge to continue their campaigns to assist women in years to come. This is our responsibility, one which women like Betty have handed over to us and one which we cherish.

I was fortunate to know Betty, if only for a short time. My last contact with her was over some correspondence she was writing to me and Minister Wood, lobbying for a pedestrian crossing near her home. She was successful with that lobbying-of course. So, farewell, Betty. I pass on my sympathy to her daughters, Penny, Althea and Andrea, and their 10 children.

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