Ms THEOPHANOUS (Northcote): I rise to update the house and my community on the work of the Gender Equality Advisory Committee, which I have the honour of co-chairing with the member for Wendouree. The committee was established by the Minister for Local Government to advise on strategies to advance gender equality in local government and deliver on our target of 50 per cent female mayors and councillors by 2025. I am proud to report that our committee, which is made up of 16 women, drawing on expertise and experience from right across the sector, is already making strides in its work. Last Friday we held our second meeting and canvassed the latest thinking on local and international strategies to address barriers to women’s participation in local government.
While we saw significant gains at the council elections last year with 272 women elected, an uplift from 38 per cent to 43.8 per cent of councillors, we know there is still a significant way to go to reach parity. Our committee has discussed some of the structural and cultural issues within local government, including inflexible work environments and the need to address bullying and harassment directed at female candidates, councillors and officers. We have also spoken about the need to proactively encourage and equip women to run in local government elections with a long runway of support and a particular focus on women from diverse backgrounds.
My co-chair and I are thrilled to report that the committee has also been given oversight of a new $1.8 million women’s community leadership program, which will support 120 women aspiring to leadership roles in local government. We look forward to providing our first report back to the Minister for Local Government and the Minister for Women in the coming weeks.
