women

This week, the Federal Government launched the discussion paper ‘Improving Maternity Services in Australia', the first step in a review into maternity services in Australia.

Despite international research showing that access to contiuous midwife care can lead to savings in health dollars as well as better outcomes for women and babies, as midwives cannot currently access Medicare rebates, many women are not able to chose continuous midwife care throughout their pregnancy.

According to the Federal Government:

Currently, two thirds of Australian women have no access to paid leave when they have children. Australia and the United States are the only two OECD countries that do not offer paid maternity leave.

Earlier this year, the Productivity Commission was asked by the Federal Government to inquire into the potential introduction of Paid Maternity Leave in Australia.

Paid maternity leave is important because it provides financial support to allow time for mothers to recover physically from the birth and bond with her baby. There are also economic benefits. The ACTU points out that:

25 November is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

According to the UN,

At least one out of every three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime - with the abuser usually someone known to her. Violence against women and girls is a universal problem of pandemic proportions. Perhaps the most pervasive human rights violation that we know today, it devastates lives, fractures communities, and stalls development.

Next week the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Scheme (at Redfern Legal Centre) will be holding an information session about family and domestic violence for Indigenous women in the Redfern Community.

The Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Scheme (WDVCAS) provides help to women experiencing domestic violence. The scheme assists women with AVOs, safety, explaining the court process, after court support and help with the police.

I have been watching with interest the debate around the current AusAid Family Planning Guidelines which has stepped up since Federal Labor set up a sub-committee to examine the guidelines earlier this year. 

Last year, the All Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (PGPD), of which I am a member, strongly recommended abolishing the guidelines.  

19 June is Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday. On 27 May this year, the Burmese Junta extended Aung San Suu Kyi's detention for another year. She will now have been confined to her residence for a sixth straight year, more than 12 years in total. 

19 June is also celebrated in Burma as Women of Burma day. On this day, John Kaye MLC and I will be co-hosting an event at the NSW Parliament to draw attention to the struggle for democracy in Burma and to raise money for the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

The event will feature speakers from the Burmese community and a display of images from the Don't Forget Burma campaign.

Date: Thursday 19th June 2008
Time: 1-2pm
Venue: Jubilee Room
Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney

WOW Film Festival

Earlybird entries are closing soon for the 15th annual World of Women (WOW) Film Festival.

Minister for Community Services Kevin Greene and Minister for Women Verity Firth today launched a new information kit for women and women's services to assist women and children escaping domestic violence.

The full media release is below:

At the invitation of Redfern Legal Centre I spent a couple of hours today visiting the service, meeting the workers and sitting in on the AVO hearing in the Downing Centre Local Court.

While I know what is supposed to happen in the court this is just a sample of what I actually saw:

Apparently having a Premier with small children who actually spends time with them is a bad thing.  Yesterday the Sunday Telegraph asked the question: if the Premier is home by 6pm to bath the kids does that mean that he is not working hard enough for the state?

For the dinosaurs of the Liberal Party - Greiner and Hewson - having failed relationships and kids you barely knew was a sacrifice that you have to make for leadership. For their sacrifice do we believe that they did a better job than Morris is doing - of course not.