❓ The Minister for Women's Interests updates the house on the McGowan Labor government's efforts to promote gender equity and support women in senior public sector leadership roles, highlighting recent appointments and contrasting their approach with the federal Liberal and National parties.
AnsweredQoN 641Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
PUBLIC SERVICE —
GENDER EQUITY
641. Ms J.M. FREEMAN to the Minister for Women's Interests:
Can the minister update the house on
how the McGowan Labor government is promoting gender equity and supporting
women to reach senior leadership positions across the public sector, and can
the minister advise the house whether she is aware of any alternative
approaches to gender equity that have been taken recently?
GENDER EQUITY
641. Ms J.M. FREEMAN to the Minister for Women's Interests:
Can the minister update the house on
how the McGowan Labor government is promoting gender equity and supporting
women to reach senior leadership positions across the public sector, and can
the minister advise the house whether she is aware of any alternative
approaches to gender equity that have been taken recently?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for her question.
It is no surprise to anyone here that our party takes the principle of equity
very seriously, within both our party and government. The state public sector workforce
is 70 per cent women, but sadly, until recently, only 33 per cent of
appointments to the senior executive service level were women. We are working
hard to remove the barriers to women's leadership in the public sector.
We do not want to be drawing from a smaller, limited cohort; we want to make
full use of this state's talents. Announcements of recent appointments
of women to important and influential roles in WA's public sector are
very encouraging. Alongside WA's Auditor General, Director of Public
Prosecutions and Public Sector Commissioner, we can now count two new directors
general—Ms Rebecca Brown, director general of the Department of Jobs,
Tourism, Science and Innovation; and Jodi Cant for the Department of Finance.
These achievements are to be commended; they are fantastic appointments. I also
want to acknowledge and give special mention to the lead the Attorney General has
played in appointing women to judicial positions, including one woman to the
Court of Appeal, two women to the Supreme Court, five to the District Court,
three to the Magistrates Court and one to the Family Court of Western Australia—12
women appointed. There is no doubt that he is a modern guy! As I have
mentioned, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Deputy Director of
Public Prosecutions are women as well. As a government and as a party, we want
to be proactive in addressing the representation of women in leadership roles.
It is the kind of change that the McGowan government is all about. We are
walking the walk and talking the talk to make sure that our public sector
leadership team reflects the WA community.
I am interested in the federal
debate that is going on at the moment about equity within the federal Liberal
Party and within the National Party as well—the coalition generally. I would
be interested to hear from across the chamber what the state parties are
interested in doing to increase the number of women within their cohorts. Our
party has had a proactive approach to that since the early 1990s and we are now
starting to see the benefits—one need only look around this chamber and
the upper house to see the number of women representing our party. I wonder
what the other side is doing about it within their own ranks.
It is no surprise to anyone here that our party takes the principle of equity
very seriously, within both our party and government. The state public sector workforce
is 70 per cent women, but sadly, until recently, only 33 per cent of
appointments to the senior executive service level were women. We are working
hard to remove the barriers to women's leadership in the public sector.
We do not want to be drawing from a smaller, limited cohort; we want to make
full use of this state's talents. Announcements of recent appointments
of women to important and influential roles in WA's public sector are
very encouraging. Alongside WA's Auditor General, Director of Public
Prosecutions and Public Sector Commissioner, we can now count two new directors
general—Ms Rebecca Brown, director general of the Department of Jobs,
Tourism, Science and Innovation; and Jodi Cant for the Department of Finance.
These achievements are to be commended; they are fantastic appointments. I also
want to acknowledge and give special mention to the lead the Attorney General has
played in appointing women to judicial positions, including one woman to the
Court of Appeal, two women to the Supreme Court, five to the District Court,
three to the Magistrates Court and one to the Family Court of Western Australia—12
women appointed. There is no doubt that he is a modern guy! As I have
mentioned, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Deputy Director of
Public Prosecutions are women as well. As a government and as a party, we want
to be proactive in addressing the representation of women in leadership roles.
It is the kind of change that the McGowan government is all about. We are
walking the walk and talking the talk to make sure that our public sector
leadership team reflects the WA community.
I am interested in the federal
debate that is going on at the moment about equity within the federal Liberal
Party and within the National Party as well—the coalition generally. I would
be interested to hear from across the chamber what the state parties are
interested in doing to increase the number of women within their cohorts. Our
party has had a proactive approach to that since the early 1990s and we are now
starting to see the benefits—one need only look around this chamber and
the upper house to see the number of women representing our party. I wonder
what the other side is doing about it within their own ranks.
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