Impact on women – core business for Parliament

During my campaign for Nelson, I have been contacted, encouraged and challenged by a number of women. They wanted to know my position on issues affecting women and encouraged me to speak up more on those issues in my campaign.  They shared stories with me about their lives and the lives of their friends.

Those stories were all too familiar to me.  They illustrated so many of the issues that my own work has focused on – matters of social justice and equity, access to basic services, support and safety in times of crisis, and having the essential foundations for a life lived with dignity.

Working to make things better for everyone in our community for many years has been the motivation at the heart of my work.  Awareness of these very real issues is a key driver of my decision to run for Parliament. I want to take the passion and understanding I have of these issues into the decision-making corridors of power.  

What has become crystallised for me during this campaign is that I can be the Parliamentary representative who provides a voice of leadership on women’s issues and fights for a Tasmania that is an exemplar of equity, safety and opportunity for women.

Issues affecting women

There are a range of issues that are either experienced only by women or that affect women in particular ways that cause disadvantage and hardship.  Currently, these issues are not being adequately championed or addressed in our state by political leaders.  Many of these issues are connected and complex in terms of causes and solutions.  But this does not excuse ongoing inaction or a lack of investment in solutions. 

We can and must do better to address:

• women’s workforce participation, including the gender pay gap
• women’s financial security, including the prevalence of women in part-time or casual insecure work and women’s superannuation
• violence against women, including access to legal services, personal support and housing
• women’s health and wellbeing, including timely access to health services and reproductive rights
• women’s homelessness, including access to public and social housing, better protection of tenants’ rights, more crisis housing services
• support for carers, including in the areas of elder care, disability care, and kinship care

However, it isn’t just women-specific issues that must be championed and addressed.   We can consider every issue first on its merits for the entire Tasmanian community and secondly on the impact it may have specifically on women.

My commitment: a women’s lens in the Tasmanian Parliament

In keeping with the role of the Legislative Council to review and scrutinise legislation, as the member for Nelson I will commit to applying a women’s lens to all legislation that comes before me.

I will specifically examine the implications of legislation in terms of the impact it will have on women. I will publicly share and discuss my analysis, and will bring the results to Parliamentary discussion and debate.

Applying a women’s lens will ensure that our laws, policies and programs are fairer and more effective.  Internationally, this approach is well-advanced in its implementation and is having good effect in delivering more equitable outcomes for women and as a result, the broader population. 

It is time for the Tasmanian Parliament to step up. This is about ensuring that not only are we minimising disadvantage for women, but that we are achieving genuine equity: of access, of treatment and of outcome.

As the member for Nelson in the Legislative Council, I will apply a women’s lens to:

• each piece of legislation
• through committee work
• the State Budget
• review of policy & policy implementation

A collaborative effort

As an independent in the Legislative Council, I will be well-placed to work across party lines to bring a shared focus to issues impacting women.  I will reach out to Parliamentarians from all parties and to fellow independents in the upper house to join me in bringing this work to fruition.

In addition, there are many excellent services, programs and individuals working in Tasmania to support women and equity.  These groups hold a wealth of knowledge, expertise, resources, passionate advocacy and shared commitment. 

In my Parliamentary role, I would work to build a collaborative equity network to undertake this work. We have a strong history of collaboration among women in this state, and I would seek to connect to and draw on that to progress this initiative.

As a starting point, I have been in contact with the following groups to make them aware of my commitment to applying a women’s-lens in Parliament, and to invite their collaboration in this effort:

• Women’s Health Tasmania
• Women’s Legal Service
• Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commissioner
• Engender Equality
• Tasmanian Women Lawyers
• Women’s in Economics Network (Tasmania)

Alignment with other equity efforts

When we work together for a more equitable community, the whole community benefits.

While I make this commitment with an explicit women’s focus, I believe that this work is complementary to a range of other efforts to achieve a more equitable Tasmanian community.  

I support these efforts and would seek to find common purpose with the groups and individuals that pursue them, for example:

• the campaign to establish a Tasmanian Human Rights Act
• the Tasmanian Aboriginal community
• the multicultural community of Tasmania
• Tasmanians with a disability
• trans and gender diverse Tasmanians

Connection to current Government policy

This work will be complementary to and extend the impact of work already in progress under the State Government’s Tasmanian Women’s Strategy 2018-2021, the Women on Boards Strategy 2015-2020, the Safe Home, Safe Families: Family Violence Action Plan 2015-2020 and other women-focused programs.

This initiative recognises the responsibility of our State Parliament to understand the impact of its work on Tasmanian women.  It explicitly inserts an opportunity for public analysis and consideration of that impact. It makes Tasmanian women – their lives, safety and opportunities – core business in the daily functioning of the Tasmanian Parliament.

When these very real challenges facing Tasmanian women are addressed, all Tasmanians benefit.