Senator WEST(1.23 p.m.) —I rise today to draw attention to another program and series of funding, which organisations and individuals are uncertain about the future of: the national agenda for women grant program, which ends on 30 June this year. This program does a number of things. It has a section of its grant portfolio set aside to assist women's organisations, and it also has a significant part of its money set aside to give grants to individual groups, for small community groups to conduct programs as they see fit around the community and the countryside.   The program has proven very popular. What the women's organisations and the community organisations have been able to do with small amounts of money has been very, very good. The program has provided the women's organisations and the women in their communities with information, with access and with education, and in rural areas it has removed feelings of isolation and of disadvantage.

But we have not heard yet what is going to happen to the national agenda for women grant programs. There are 20 women's organisations funded for small amounts of money under the grant, but that grant runs out on 30 June. As I understand it, these organisations have still not heard whether there is going to be some interim funding to take them up to the budget—when, hopefully, there will be a commitment given in the budget. It is vitally important.

We are talking about an organisation like CAPOW, the Coalition of Australian Participating Organisations of Women. This is a grouping together of 61 of the women's organisations in this country, so that they can come together and network and work together on programs. And they worked very well together in the build-up to the women's conference in Beijing.   They were able to coordinate a response, and to seek information and responses from women across Australia about what the Australian position should be. They brought that to the government very well. It was included in the government's position, and they were also able to have their delegates attend the NGO forum that was conducted at Huirou, prior to the conference in Beijing. They did very well and gained a lot of credit for the women of Australia. They also had a number of official NGO delegates who were able to participate and to lobby in the conference itself, in Beijing.

The work that those women did is absolutely inestimable. It was of high quality and was valued by everybody who came in contact with the Australian women. Comments were received by those of us who were delegates to the conference, about the valuable adjunct to our work we had in the representatives of those non-government organisations. A number of us met daily with the NGO women and we were able to exchange ideas and information, and generally have a very constructive time.

What sorts of organisations am I talking about? I am not talking about radical organisations that want to overthrow society as we know it. I am talking about organisations that are dependent upon the national agenda for women grant funding. They are organisations such as: the Association of non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia; the Association of Women Educators; the Coalition of Australian Participating Organisations of Women, commonly known as CAPOW; the Catholic Women's League; the Coalition of Activist Lesbians; the Foundation of Australian Agricultural Women; the Maternity Alliance; the National Council for the Single Mother and her Child; the National Council of Women of Australia; the National Women's Justice Coalition; the National Women's Media Centre; the Network of Women in Further Education; the Nursing Mothers Association of Australia; the Older Women's Network of Australia; the Refugee Women's Network; Women in Film and Television; Women with Disabilities Australia; the Women's Electoral Lobby; the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and Women's Sport Australia.

These organisations represent a very good cross-section of women's organisations in this country. It is absolutely essential that these organisations know beforehand that they do not have to disrupt their programs or to spend time wondering about what they do between 30 June and the budget. If people ask this government any questions about funding, they keep being told to wait until the budget. These organisations cannot afford to wait until the budget. Either they have to be given a grant funding now for the next 12 months, or they have to be given interim funding.

I am very familiar with the work of the Nursing Mothers Association. Prior to my involvement in politics, I spent a lot of time working as an early childhood nurse, and I know the valuable support that that organisation was able to give mothers with young children and small babies. Those mothers they had as counsellors, would be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Whilst many of the mothers knew where the clinical staff were and they could contact us, they felt hesitant to contact those of us in the profession. But they welcomed the ready availability of these volunteer women. The amount of money that this organisation gets, is small, but it enables them to have a network of support across this country for mothers and families with young babies. Anyone who has had a difficult young baby will certainly relish the assistance that was able to be given by that organisation.

You might wonder what CAPOW does. It is a network of all 61 participating organisations, running across a very wide range of interests and activities, from the YWCA, Unifem—the Union of Australian Women—Women in the Australian Church, and the National Women's Christian Temperance Union. That last organisation was one of the four leading organisations in the struggle for women to get franchise in this country.

The sorts of organisations that are affiliated with CAPOW rely very strongly on the ability that CAPOW provides to provide information, to facilitate communication among affiliated groups, and to lobby as necessary. `Lobbying' is not such a terrible word; in fact it is a very vital word as far as these organisations are concerned.

CAPOW also puts out—four times a year—a bulletin that is available to all of its organisations. Some of the issues canvassed in the autumn 1996 bulletin relate to preparations for the Habitat II conference that is to be held. It talks about some of the issues that people may wish to raise at that conference and it gets women to think about the issues. They have reproduced an article from the national newspaper of the United Nations Association of Australia. There is also an item in the bulletin, in relation to the Habitat II conference, that relates to women with disabilities. It is getting women with disabilities to think about their habitat needs and that is very important. There is also an article on the ending of female genital mutilation. These are the sorts of issues that are vitally important to women. While some of these issues may not affect many women in Australia, the ability of Australian women's organisations to stand up and take a position on these issues adds strength to the lobbying, and it also adds strength to the pressure that women in other countries are placing within their own countries.

CAPOW, as the networking body, has been responsible for facilitating the dissemination of the top 12 topics at the Beijing women's conference and for a brief summary of actions recommended in the platform for action. Again, this enables Australian women to understand and know the major issues addressed in Beijing. It enables the Australian women to understand the plans of action and to support, as necessary and as they are able, the pressure, the requests, the needs that women all over the world may have.

The first topic relates to the burden of poverty on women, and the equal access to education and training. Those of us who went to Beijing were able to see very clearly, from the figures and statistics given to us, that in many developing countries the number of years that the girl child spends in education, or has access to, falls far short of what is available to her male peer. Of course, the women from those countries saw it as being vitally important that the girls in those countries had equal access. There is information for Australian organisations on how they can support their sister organisations and their sisters in other countries. This is also vitally important. It is an essential thing for women who care about what happens to other women.

I urge the government to look very earnestly at this issue and to act now to do something for these 20-odd organisations whose funding will cease on 30 June. It is something that we cannot afford to have happen. One such organisation is Women with Disabilities Australia. Their objectives are to develop a network of women, with disabilities, throughout Australia to work together for their mutual benefit, and to advocate for every woman with a disability to have the opportunity for true involvement in all levels of society.

The organisation further states that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has revealed that women with disabilities are more often institutionalised, less likely to work for money, earn less, less likely to own a home, and less likely to receive requested personal care and household assistance than men with the same needs. Of course, it has to be said that probably the men with the same needs are being cared for by women. But when it comes to the woman's turn to require this assistance, it is often not available to her as readily as it is to males. That is not meant to be a disparaging remark in relation to males but it is certainly a comment in relation to ages and the roles that women have assumed. This is the sort of organisation that will be affected.

I turn now to another issue. On Monday I asked the question of Senator Parer on drought exceptional circumstances and asked when we could expect to see the minister's response to the RASAC report which he had commissioned on 20 March and which he has asked to be presented on 11 April. Senator Parer initially was unable to provide me with an answer but came back at the end of question time saying that a decision was going to be made soon.

I have been talking to people in the areas that have been affected, in the Wilcannia-Cobar area, and they are pleading that the decision be made quickly. They do not know, and being left not knowing whether or not they are going to be included in the exceptional circumstances area is causing them great anxiety. It means that they cannot plan. It means that they do not know whether or not they are going to get assistance. They are better off knowing that they are not going to get assistance than sitting, waiting and hoping that they are going to be eligible.

I am told that the situation out there is desperate. People are desperate to have a decision now. The minister, I think, has had plenty of time within which to make that decision. He ordered the report on 20 March. He asked for it to be delivered on 11 April. It is now 29 May. Six weeks have elapsed, and nothing has been heard. The minister was able to make a decision quite quickly about cooked chicken meat, despite giving an assurance to the producers in that industry prior to the election that no decision would be made until after the Nairn committee report had been received. That is expected in October of this year. But he appears to have made a decision quickly on that one. Why can the minister not make a decision quickly on whether there is going to be an extension of drought exceptional circumstances?

A lot of work had been done on this issue prior to the change of government. There had been submissions and requests made to the previous minister to extend the drought exceptional circumstances. The information had not been adequate, and the minister had requested further information. That information would have been coming into the department during the changeover, in the caretaker period of government. It is vitally important. That information would have been there, available for the minister on his desk, as soon as he started having briefings. He would, therefore, have been in the situation of receiving good and adequate briefings early in his reign as minister. But we still have no decision.

On behalf of the people of the Western Division areas of New South Wales who are affected by this, I urge the minister to make a decision very soon—to make it now—so that they know where they stand and they are able to make decisions for their future.