Page 1138 - Week 04 - Thursday, 21 May 2020
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be paid equally. As I mentioned in this place last year, some building sites do not even have a women’s toilet, let alone equal pay and conditions.
My dad used to go on a bit when I was younger. Who am I kidding? He still goes on a bit. Some of the stories that stuck with me were about workers rights, how important his time was in the union, the union movement as a whole, and being involved in the green bans. As a young girl, I fobbed him off a bit, but as I became more active in my own right, I realised that dad was right. Jeez, I am glad he is not in the chamber today to hear me say that.
The union movement was and still is extremely important. The green bans were extremely important. They gave us the Rocks area we know today. They kept green spaces in Sydney’s high-rise jungle. They grew grassroots activism. But most of all, they ensured that workers kept their homes and greedy developers would not get their hands on them.
I could go on all night about the great things Jack Mundey did, but I will finish with one of my favourite quotes from Jack:
What is the good of fighting to improve wages and conditions if we are going to choke to death in polluted and planless cities?
Vale, Jack Mundey.
Mr Graeme Evans—tribute
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (6.12): I was not intending to speak tonight, but after listening to Ms Cheyne talk about my friend Graeme Evans, I thought I should come down and add a bit more. He was not just someone who was important in Belconnen. I am sure he was important in Belconnen, but never having been a Belconnen resident, that was not a particularly important aspect of him as far as I was concerned.
I met Graeme in what would have been the 1980s, I think—the late 1980s or early 1990s—through the Australian Conservation Foundation, which at that time had branches in many places in Australia. He was involved with that. I was the convenor of that locally for many years and then joined the national council.
That gives me another link. Ms Cody mentioned Jack Mundey, and I met him also through the Australian Conservation Foundation. Jack preceded me in the ACF, but it was great to see the ACF carrying on his traditions.
Graeme Evans’s memorial has been one of the casualties of COVID-19. It was to be held in March but could not be held because of COVID-19. I express my commiserations to his family, in particular to his partner, Trish Saunders.
Public Accounts—Standing Committee
MS LAWDER (Brindabella) (6.14): I rise to continue some remarks I started earlier today regarding the PAC inquiry into the Auditor-General’s report. I had reached a
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