Ms BIRD (4:30 PM) —I would like to take the opportunity to mark the fact that this is the closest sitting day to Sunday, which will mark the 62nd anniversary of the election of a woman to this parliament. To quote from the speech at the time:

These are the words of the first woman elected to the House of Representatives, on 21 August 1943—as I said, marked by 62 years on Sunday. In 1943, Enid Lyons was elected to this parliament to represent the Tasmanian seat of Darwin, renamed Braddon in 1955.

The day of 21 August, 62 years ago this Sunday, was the very first occasion on which a woman had addressed this House. As Dame Enid Lyons herself acknowledged in her maiden speech—as they were then—on 29 September, it was for that reason that it was an occasion which for every woman in the Commonwealth marked a turning point in our history.

In 1949, Dame Enid Lyons became the first woman in federal cabinet when she was appointed vice-president of the executive council under Prime Minister Menzies. Until 1966 she was the only woman to be appointed to Commonwealth ministerial rank. Dame Enid was elected four years after the death of her husband ‘Honest Joe’ Lyons, who died in 1939 while serving as Prime Minister. Enid stood for the seat of Darwin despite her husband’s advice that people ‘wouldn’t vote for a woman for ages yet’.

Prior to entering our parliament, Dame Enid was a schoolteacher—something that is close to my heart. Her concern with political issues such as women’s rights, the elimination of discrimination in employment, improvement in maternity care and the widow pension led her to give her first political speech in 1920. The wife of a Prime Minister and the mother of 12 children, Dame Enid Lyons was firm on her political beliefs. I quote another brief extract from her words:

In 1902 Australia became the first country in the world where most women had the right both to vote and to stand for the national parliament. Women had gained the right to vote for parliament in New Zealand in 1893 but were not able to stand as candidates until after the First World War. Although Australian women gained these political rights very early, we did not succeed in entering federal parliament until four decades later.

Also in 1943, Dorothy Tangney was the first woman to be elected to the Australian Senate, representing the state of Western Australia. Dorothy Tangney was one of the few women successful in securing election in the Senate under the reform system of election, the system fought for by Catherine Helen Spence. Both Dame Enid Lyons and Dorothy Tangney broke the barriers of custom and prejudice against women, Enid insisting that she stood as a citizen and not just a woman.

Anyone who thinks the fight is over should take a look at our current parliament. The number of women elected to the parliament has settled for the moment at just above one-quarter of all parliamentarians. It has been that way for about a decade now. Since 1996, the ALP has increased its female representation in the House from 8.2 per cent to 33.3 per cent. The government has experienced a slight decrease, from 22.4 per cent to 20 per cent.

On issues such as the active involvement of women in civic life in this country, including in this House, it is important to always take the opportunity to remember those that blazed the way before us, as both these women of different political persuasions did, to take the opportunity to remember the efforts that they made on behalf of all of us and to acknowledge their service to this nation.