Wednesday, 8 March 2023

International Women’s Day

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (18:26): (92) My adjournment tonight is for the Minister for Women on International Women’s Day, and perhaps I should start by asking Ms Hutchins what her definition of a woman is and for whom the minister is actually responsible. Does it include a man who thinks he is a woman today and maybe a man tomorrow? Or does the minister’s portfolio abide by the words used in an article in the Ballarat Courier on Monday discussing a new swab test for cervical screening, in which it says:

Since July, all women and people –

note ‘people’ –

with a cervix have been able to access … swabs.

Perhaps the minister could advise who other than a woman has a cervix. The minister issued a media release this morning which started with this sentence:

In Victoria, equality is not negotiable.

She must be joking. How about the applications for detectives in the Wyndham crime investigation unit in April 2021, when, as the Herald Sun reported at the time:

Senior police have blocked the selection of six detectives at a busy crime investigation office because no women were chosen.

It left the area, including Werribee, down six detectives for at least six months. I am sure those six male police officers, working hard, looking to get ahead in life, felt the full force of Victoria’s equality at that moment. The decision, needless to say, was celebrated by Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius, who said the goal was to create a ‘more inclusive’ workforce – really.

I also ask: if the minister is genuinely the Minister for Women, will she be putting a stop to men, replete with genitalia, requiring incarceration in women’s prisons? And she might also put a stop to males competing in women’s sport and changing in girls change rooms. This action would clearly demonstrate that she is genuinely the Minister for Women.

Just on the weekend I noticed advertisements in local papers advertising commissioner appointments for the Victorian Environmental Water Holder 2023. Before you get to the actual skills required, the advertisement prioritised – highlighted – that the applicant could be a ‘part of a sector that is leading in climate action, traditional owner self-determination and gender equality’. Whatever happened to the old saying ‘The best person for the job, be it a man or a woman’? Wouldn’t that be equality? So much for skills relating to water.

I return to my observation of the minister’s statement today:

In Victoria, equality is not negotiable.

The action I seek of the minister is to prove that her equality statement is actually correct.