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MARCH 4, 2013 International Women's Day Image source: UN Women On Friday 8 March women around the world will celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). IWD had its genesis in events of the early 1900s, when women in places such as Europe, North America and Australia began demanding an end to

ISSN 1328-8091 Parliamentof Australia Departmentof Parliamentary Services Contents Purpose .................................................................................................................................................... 2 Background .............................................................................................................................................. 2 Recent dental initiatives ..................................................................................................................... 3 Dental Reform Package ................................................................................................................. 4 Children’s dental services and oral health status ............................................................................... 5 Chronic Disease Dental Scheme (CDDS) ............................................................................................. 6 Teen Dental Plan ................................................................................................................................. 7 Basis of policy commitment ................................................................................................................

AUGUST 31, 2012 Mifepristone (RU 486) registered for use in Australia The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the regulator of medicines and therapeutic devices in Australia, has announced that from 29 August 2012 the abortifacient mifepristone (RU 486) will be listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG). Misoprostol, a

June 12, 2012 110th anniversary of the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 Image source: Wikimedia Commons Tuesday 12 June 2012 marks the 110th anniversary of the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902, the law that granted most Australian women the right to vote, and therefore to stand, in Commonwealth elections. The Act stated

    MARCH 8, 2012 Women in Australian Parliaments Vida Goldstein Source: Wikimedia Commons A new Background Note, Representation of Women in Australian Parliaments, published by the Parliamentary Library to coincide with International Women's Day, reveals that there are currently more women parliamentarians in the Senate than at any other

  MARCH 7, 2012 International Women's Day Image source: wikimedia commons Women all over the world have used International Women’s Day, March the 8th, to campaign about issues relevant to their local needs - from gender equity in the workplace to ending poverty and violence against women. Last year marked

    DECEMBER 6, 2011 PNG parliament votes to allow reserved seats for women Image source: United Nations Democracy Fund In a historic vote, the Parliament of Papua New Guinea has passed a bill allowing 22  parliamentary seats to be reserved for women MPs. On 23 November 2011, the Equality  and Participation Bill (or ‘Women’s Bill’) received 72 votes to two, with several members  abstaining and some absent. PNG has had four women Members of Parliament since the  country’s independence in 1975, and currently has only one woman MP—Dame Carol Kidu—who sponsored the Bill. In a recent ABC radio interview, the Queensland‐born MP  described the vote as ‘a real paradigm shift’ on the floor of the parliament, and noted that  the years of campaigning for change had helped to raise public consciousness of women’s  under‐representation in the country’s parliament. In a nation where violence against women  is endemic, Dame Carol cites international evidence to show that social issues gain priority  when more women are involved in making laws. The PNG parliament must now pass  enabling legislation that will determine the boundaries of the 22 electorates. The enabling  legislation, still to be introduced, will require 73 votes or two‐thirds of the parliament. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s data, women comprised 19.3 per cent or less  than one‐fifth of all parliamentarians in the 188 national parliaments surveyed at the end of  September 2011. The figure for Pacific countries was even lower at 14.8 per cent. Given the  slow progress internationally, many countries have adopted some form of gender quota to  increase women’s representation in politics. The Quota Project, a global database of quotas  for women in politics, reports that about half of the countries of the world today use some  type of electoral quota system for women, including candidate quotas, reserved seats and  voluntary quotas for political parties. Different systems are preferred in different regions.  Reserved seats tend to be used in the Arab region, in South Asia and partly in Africa. Indigenous Maori people have had dedicated seats in the New Zealand Parliament for more  than 100 years. Indigenous Australians have unsuccessfully sought dedicated seats since  1938 when the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation presented a petition to Prime Minister  Joseph Lyons demanding representation in the national Parliament.  Reserved seats are an example of a quota system mandated by the constitution and/or law