National Foundation for Australian Women Dinner
Good evening, everyone.
I acknowledge that today we gather on the lands of the traditional custodians— the Ngunnawal — and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and surrounding regions.
I pay my respects to their elders, past and present.
Thank you Aunty Violet – we're catching up in Canberra a lot – we see each other at most events and I always love to celebrate you and the Grannies and all you can do Australia for so many. You set a standard for all of us. And like you I would also like to acknowledge all of the stalwart Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in the room tonight and all First Nations people in the room tonight and I pay my respects to all of you.
And, on Remembrance Day, I would particularly like to acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their families who have served, and fallen, in defence of our country.
Thank you for inviting me to join you this evening.
Jane, it is so kind of you to have me here given my change in circumstances.
I start with an apology – as much as I would love to be with you all night (and this is a community that has carried me through so much we have done together) I must go to the Australian War Memorial to deliver an address on Remembrance Day – a day of commemoration.
Almost of everyone one of you tonight is part of a community of women who have played such profound roles in my life.
In a sense I am in my new role because of you all. You only get to these roles with an extraordinary group of people, mentors, guides, teachers, friends and colleagues.
And thank you to our Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, whose remarks tonight remind us of how hard fought all action for women’s respect and equality are.
There is a lot to be thankful for when I come into a room such as this given the role I now undertake on behalf of all Australians.
The determined focus on paying women properly, honouring care in all of its forms and holding us all to account in our treatment of women, has been life-changing for so many.
The 11th of November is an important day in our nation’s history.
I want to acknowledge the Remembrance Day ceremony that was held at the Australian War Memorial this morning.
It was a very solemn moment for me, for my first opportunity to participate in such profound solemnity.
I was also able to announce a new Victoria Cross for Australia recipient, which has a very special moment. These moments are historic and I would never have imagined that they are the kind of events and things that I would be doing. It was a momentous morning.
And, with my apologies, I am required back at the War Memorial this evening, so I will miss out on the post-dinner catch ups.
I promise, thought, that I will spend more time with you on another occasion – perhaps at Government House or Admiralty House in Sydney.
The poppy I am wearing tonight was a gift to me from Julie Dakin, the mother of a serving member of the Australian Defence Force – in fact, our photographer this evening is her son, Chief Petty Officer Andrew Dakin.
At Government House, I am so wonderfully served by the Australian Defence Force.
Julie crochets these poppies as a form of creative commemoration, and I so appreciate the impulse she expresses through her craft – to commemorate and honour Australian service women and men in ways that are personal and deeply felt.
Many women around the country now send me beautiful, heartfelt, craft items, often with the description #veteranartist.
It doesn’t have to be veterans – it is sometimes just a small piece of craft to remind me of the fact that they exist and that part of my job is all are welcome in the places I now inhabit. I have all of these wonderful things that are gifted to me that come from all over the country – sometimes a beautiful hat, a poem, a poppy.
Having committed my term of office to elevating care, kindness and respect, it is of particular importance to me that these private acts of kindness, often produced to raise money for hospitals or for Country Women Associations or to give comfort to our Defence Force members, are celebrated in the work I do. That’s why I want to wear these items and tell you and people around the country about it.
I wore this for today’s ceremony and will wear it tonight and tell the same story – so this is a story that it is told in our War Memorial, so that it is not just about the big remembrances it is also about those small commemorations.
It was a conscious thought this morning to think about the enduring contribution of women to the Australian Defence Force.
From the nurses of World War I to Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinnes, who is the current Australian National Cyber Security Coordinator, one of the most serious jobs in the country, and all the women leaders in the ADF.
Australian women have a long and proud history of vital and transformative service across defence.
As Governor-General, I am supported by two more remarkable young servicewomen who work with me every day to assist me in performing my role.
I want you to meet Flight Lieutenant Jamie Thanjan. It is women like Jamie that chose a life of service – in the Air Force, spending time in Government House before she goes on to do remarkable things in her career – that constantly remind me of why gender equality matters everywhere. And that our defence force needs to think deeply and care deeply about the women who want to serve our country just as we always have for the men. I want to thank Jamie.
Their ability, courage, energy and optimism that gives me so much confidence in the future of our defence force, and our nation.
And I also acknowledge the quiet but extraordinary role of women who kept families together and managed life while their partners were serving. My Mum is one of those people.
Last Thursday, Legacy families – mostly women – came to Government House in Canberra for their annual morning and afternoon teas.
I was told the war widows would not be interested in selfies – they are! They all wanted something to show their grandchildren of what was a wonderful day.
In their faces was written the sacrifices they made for service.
It was my privilege to witness the warmth of the bonds between them, the room had a very similar feel to tonight’s, and to share their stories of what Legacy has meant to them and their children.
As so often happens when I am in this room, I look around and celebrate a roll call over several generations of the trailblazers and the torchbearers, the best and the brightest of the women’s movement.
Each and every one of you has played their role.
To acknowledge each of you would be to sketch the history of Australian feminism over the past decades.
And take more time than we have this evening.
You all know how incredibly proud as I am to serve as Australia’s 28th Governor-General, and only our second woman.
For every second – there was always a first.
And, tonight, I salute the outgoing patron of the Foundation, Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO.
Dame Quentin I now has spent the afternoon with a number of you is also at the Australian War Memorial – I will see her tonight. She is being honoured there as well.
I know for any of you that have had Dame Quentin involved in your life at any stage of your career, in any part of the country, that you know how exceptionally generous she has always been in supporting and guiding any of us who want to forge our paths in to our futures.
She did that to me on many occasions.
I owe her, as we all do, a debt of gratitude. Not just for her pioneering and compassionate leadership.
Throughout a lifetime as a champion of gender equality, Dame Quentin has invested her energy, and intellect, and her time, and her money, into a community of women advocating for change.
And, for me, she was available in the period between the announcement of my appointment and my taking Office. That was a precious time with her, seeking her guidance as to how I will do my job. And suffice to say, how I am doing my job has a lot to do with Dame Quentin behind it.
I want to salute her.
Dame Quentin recently joined me at Admiralty House for a reception in honour of the 40th anniversary of the Australian Girls Choir, and to celebrate the Girls from Oz Choir, of which she is patron and which she created.
The Girls from Oz – if you don’t know – are First Nations women from very remote communities, Lockhart River is her favourite one. It is Dame Quentin who has been a mentor to those young Aboriginal women. Argued for the right of those women to be part of the choir but also for the right of those women and girls to occupy an equal place in every sphere of our society.
We both listened to the choir practice at Admiralty House on the Friday night and on Sunday night we sat in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House and watched an extraordinary performance the Australian Girls Choir and Girls from Oz. It was an honour to be sitting there looking at the work of Dame Quentin and seeing this remarkable array of young women who also give us confidence for the future despite the challenges.
It is this collective spirit that Stephanie Copus-Campbell, Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality, summed up so beautifully in her recent Pamela Denoon Lecture when she said,
‘Individually they’re powerful, but when they come together, they’re a force of nature’.
That’s how this room feels tonight – a force of nature.
I was delighted recently to share a video message of congratulations with the Office for Women for its landmark 50th birthday.
I was terribly disappointed not to be in the room for that wonderful event.
It was an opportunity to celebrate the groundbreaking leadership of Elizabeth Reid as the first Women’s Adviser to the Prime Minister ...
... and the milestone in time, when the Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, who is also the Minister for Finance, is joined in Parliament by so many women from all sides of politics who are using their influence no matter what their political background to achieve social and economic equality for women across the country.
Like the Office for Women, the National Foundation for Australian Women has a dynamic history too.
Imbued from its very beginning with the spirit of the magnificent Pamela Denoon, in 2024 the Foundation remains as powerful an advocate as ever for the goals of the women’s movement.
To the women of NFAW, you are influential change makers. You always have been and you continue to be.
Your work to scrutinise the way in which the aims and ideals of women are encapsulated in public discourse …
… to record and preserve the contribution of women to Australia’s growth and progress …
… and your acute focus on the status and wellbeing of women and girls in Australian society …
… remain central to advancing the interests of all Australian women.
Thank you for what you do – it is very important work and you all do it so, so very, very well.
In my time left I thought I would go to a couple of topics.
You know that I don’t have politics, I don’t have policy, I don’t have money to give ... there are only certain things I can do in this role and I will try to go to that in my remaining remarks.
Like so many of you here tonight, I have spent many decades working in and with organisations, agencies, boards and community groups to advocate for social and economic equality for women.
Whether as chair of Chief Executive Women and the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, or as a member with the Minerva Network to support women in sport, and a supporter of 1 Million Women looking at women in climate, it has been my priority – as it has for each of you – to listen and learn from the women and girls and to work alongside women in advocating for changes that were required.
And to reach out to the women whose work we didn’t know about or hadn’t heard from.
You all know the diversity that exists in these and your own communities – they bring together women of every age, every background and every profession and every life stage.
But in my experience, within diversity, there is always a unifying thread that brings people together.
In the women’s movement, that thread is the shared recognition of the need for change, and what that change should and must look like.
But it is also present in an almost universal, indelible and compelling pursuit of fairness.
Every feminist’s origin story includes an awakening to the influence of fairness.
NAFW’s founding secretary, Marie Coleman, says it was when a schoolteacher spoke out against women striving for equal pay.
Former Sex Discrimination Commissioner Liz Broderick, believes her realisation emerged from the experience of being an identical twin.
NRL Hall of Famer Katrina Fanning would say it is the memory of her rugby league career with the Junee Diesels coming to an end for no other reason than that she turned 12.
Finance executive and refugee employment advocate Chantal Mousad might date it to her desire to give her daughter greater opportunities.
We all have our own stories.
Whether it was a gradual awakening, or an epiphany, we all know that the absence of fairness is the source of inequality.
We are all so familiar with the profoundly distressing reality of how far we still are from achieving equality, despite the gains and despite all of us having been so personally committed to removing the obstacles that perpetuate inequality.
I was going to mention the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, but I’m not going to because we don’t want to hear that it is going to take 131 years to achieve gender parity …
That cannot be right.
And, while it is also true that the last 50 years have seen major, long-term reform for women, the current stagnation in achieving social and economic gender parity is something we all care about. There are bigger challenges that underly all of this.
This is a challenge we understand, and a reality we face.
As I said in my previous role as Chair of the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce ...
" We have arrived at a moment of consequence where a genuine commitment to respect women, and valuing and nurturing their economic contribution by removing systemic barriers, is vital.
In the crudest economic terms, what we discovered when we did the work for the Minister is we are wasting $128 billion of value to the Australian economy every year when we don’t remove persistent and pervasive barriers to women’s full and equal participation in economic activity.
That’s about equity in economics but it is also about opportunity – for women certainly, and for men, and for the economy.
It is about opportunity for our nation.
A stable, thriving democracy with a vibrant culture, will only have opportunity if we solve these issues for women. We can’t leave that value on the table. To do so would be to fulfill the intent behind Donald Horne’s label of Australia as the ‘the lucky country’ that simply ran out of luck.
We simply cannot afford for that to be the case. Certainly not in 2024.
We must always seek gender equality.
In my role I don’t have politics, policy or money to influence change.
But I do have a platform.
A platform that I am able to use constructively to help lift the country and have a view about the future of the country.
A platform to listen and to convene.
A platform to identify need and to amplify stories of changemakers and pioneers.
In that spirit, as an antidote to the prediction of over a century until we get equality, I offer some inspiration – in the form of both the positive things I see around the country and some thought on who we must never leave behind, particularly men.
Our Prime Minister in appointing me asked me to be a modern, visible and optimistic Governor-General.
And, in the four months since my swearing in, I have met impressive and inspiring Australians from many different backgrounds and walks of life, including:
… the more than 25,000 school children who visit Government House in Yarralumla each year to learn about the role of the Governor-General and our democratic institutions … Every class I see of boys and girls together tells us our future is okay. They don’t behave in a way that dismisses one’s gender, or those who don’t have a gender, they are inclusive, they are enthusiastic – they just need to be encouraged to keep that as they get older.
… young women engaged in STEM, undertaking apprenticeships, and shaping their futures as leaders in business …
… and strong women who lead the defence science community …
There are so many examples around the country of great achievements by women and men that say we are on the right path.
But I have not closed my eyes to the reality of this moment, when we seemingly stand on a precipice above an even deeper possible gender divide.
At the recent Roundtable on Domestic and Family Violence at Government House, which we held for Her Majesty The Queen. You may not have heard about it but there were several roundtables that occurred while The King and The Queen were here. He is a very modern King and she is a modern Queen who asked to have roundtables on the issues of our time. For The Queen it was domestic and family violence. For The King it was investment in climate change and nature.
I was so delighted that Padma Raman was able to convene that roundtable on domestic and family violence. Where we listened to the one man around the table – a young man named Conor, a young man who celebrates the fierceness with which his mother fought to keep him and his brother safe from family violence.
That experience shaped his ongoing contribution as an advocate for young people experiencing family violence, and his hope – and I love the way he said this – that our systems and structures will show the same ferocity that his mother had to keep her children safe.
Conor’s words gave me permission to start thinking about how the women’s movement can be as involved with men, as we have been with each other. To bring men into the discussions just as we have always listened to each other as women.
We need to consider how we can bring men around the table and listen to their voices.
Listening to young Conor was a great example of a voice that was demanding to be heard and often isn’t heard in our circles. And there is many, many more Conors.
Rather than condemning men who are trapped in anger, can we be curious and questioning about why so many men actually feel left behind?
In what forum can we consider the source of their deep insecurities and identify the men who model how to live well in a family and a community and a workplace?
In Australia is the lingering shadow of many recent tragedies – over the last 20-30 years that we have yet to grieve and resolve … whether it was the Bali Bombings, drought, flood and fire, of Covid … these have been shaping all of our perspectives and particularly the the perspective of young men?
How can we pioneer relationships with the men who feel diminished by the rise of women, even though as women we know that is not what is going on but that’s how it feels ... and provide a safe place for them to reveal themselves and their vulnerabilities? And to do so safely.
In 2019, the author David Leser wrote,
‘I’d like to believe, though, that there’s a legion of us men who know that our own liberation is joined to the liberation of women, who recognise that the triumphs and achievements of one cannot happen without the triumphs and achievements of the other, and that the next part of the women’s movement is a men’s movement that rejects so many of the old definitions of masculinity … we’ve had the shake-up; now it’s time for the wake-up’
It is an am important call to rechallenge all of us on what he is asking us to do as women. Because his call to action is about the need for respectful conversations to understand the place of men in our communities now.
About the need for us to journey to understanding together, and not apart.
In dialogue and not in conflict.
And, so as your Governor-General, I have committed to use my platform to listen and convene to advance those kind of conversations. And always to do that with kindness and care and respect – even if I disagree with those i am meeting with.
Either here, in Canberra; at Admiralty House in Sydney; or in the many cities and towns that I visit …
I have the opportunity to sit at tables with a lot of men and boys and a lot of women and girls and I can use those privileged encounter with all Australians to bring people together. I hope we can all do that as well.
Because I keep seeing in those towns and cities, remote communities and in boardrooms all across the country I do see Austrians who are deeply connected and strengthened by the bonds of community they share.
We are a country that does diversity and demand inclusion …
… we do reject divisive rhetoric based on stereotypes and assumptions …
… we do debate well with respect and compassion, and listen and learn before judging …
… we can be curious, passionate, clever and optimistic …
… and can be capable and pragmatic about the times we find ourselves in …
Acting towards one another with care, kindness and respect, I think we need to bring men and boys in to help build a future in which equality is not a goal to seek, but a cherished edifice to be preserved.
They are the kind of new conversations and new role models that I hope lights the way.
In the midst of all that, despite bringing it down to think about the challenges, I do want to say that light of our nation’s ability to be inclusive and to do the great work you all have done is because of the work of the organisations represented in this room. The decades of work that have bene given. Your wisdom and foresight bring us to this moment.
I have the opportunity to travel the country and see the modern and diverse Australia that the Prime Minster asked me to amplify, I also have to think about how to amplify the kinds of conversations I’ve just suggested we have to have and I think they’re ones we will all benefit from. I know many of you have spoken to me about your grandsons, your sons, brothers, the men who desperately want to be a part of the work we have done and continue to do and so I will model that.
With your continuing guidance and advocacy, the National Foundation for Australian Women, the Office for Women are not only leaders in advocacy and advice but teachers who, in the words of Elizabeth Reid, have always shown Australians,
‘how to create [a] space in which many voices [can] be heard’.
Just as Conor has asked us to care as fiercely as his mother for each other and the systems and structures on which we depend for our safety and freedom, if we are to seriously care about one another, we must extend that care to all Australians.
And listen to every voice – even if it is difficult - with care, kindness and respect.
Then I think we have a very optimistic future, stop the backsliding and we can make sure those hard fought victories actually build us into a country that be the envy of the world given the state of our wonderful democracy, our compulsory voting, our independent electoral system, and a country that cares about its future and is wildly granted an extraordinary gift ...
… Our Indigenous foundation of 65,000 years always generously shared with us, always with generosity and a spirit of the future
… Our strong and democratic institutions.
… And our remarkable multicultural current and future.
That half century ahead if it emulates the half century we’ve had of our multicultural base, and 65,000 years of First Nations history and our British democratic institutions, we can be the envy of the world and make sure the things we see elsewhere don’t affect us.
And I think that is something worth fighting for.
Thank you.