Acknowledgements

The Hon Heidi Victoria MLA, State Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Arts and Culture, and Tourism and Major Events, representing the Leader of the Opposition

Ms Georgie Crozier MLC, Shadow Minister for Families and Children, Prevention of Family Violence, and Women, as well as Shadow Cabinet Secretary

The Hon Bill Shorten MP, Leader of the Federal Opposition and Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Ms Chloe Shorten

The Hon Warren Snowdon MP, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Affairs, Indigenous Affairs, and Northern Australia

Ms Janine Mohamed, Chief Executive Officer, CATSINaM

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

First, I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land, the Boon Wurrung people and the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respects to their elders past and present and to the elders with us this morning, and I thank Aunty Carolyn and Aunty Diane for their warm welcome.

I am delighted to welcome you here to Government House today to celebrate trail-blazing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

This event brings together much that I hold dear – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, women and leadership.

It is so clear in my mind that the richness of a community depends on the full participation of all its citizens. Without the full participation of them all, we are inevitably the poorer.

When it comes to indigenous Australians, we shall all feel the deficit if we overlook the cultural legacy of the oldest continuous culture in the world. And, of course, we are all diminished by any unfairness or inequality in our community.

If follows too that, without the full participation of women, we are also lacking. With their exclusion, half the talent pool is unavailable to us as a nation. With their exclusion, half the community contributions are missing. With their exclusion, our future is shaped by only half the possible thoughts and ideas.

In the 12 months now that I have been Victoria’s Governor, I have had the privilege to meet wonderful community leaders. I see the strength of women, often the nurturers and, as such, often the ones to bring people together, to teach, to care, to grow the young ones and to guide the men to new perspectives.

I have become increasingly aware of terrific indigenous women who show outstanding leadership in all that they do. Leaders who help others to identify, understand and appreciate their role and purpose. Leaders who motivate others to expand their skills – to keep improving themselves, to be confident, and to step up to new roles and challenges.

Today, we have such leaders amongst us, including Dr Jackie Huggins AM, Professor Gracelyn Smallwood, Ms Danielle Dries and Ms Janine Mohamed from whom we shall hear shortly, with their many years of experience working in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs, I am looking forward to learning from their collective wisdom.

I am grateful for the leadership that Janine Mohamed, the CEO of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives, CATSINaM, and Chloe Shorten have shown in initiating this event.

I know them both. Their combined force is irresistible. I support their vision in bringing together and celebrating some of the great female leaders in the indigenous community, and I am proud that Government House can provide the setting for such an important collaboration.

I do want to take the opportunity to acknowledge the work of CATSINaM. As the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives, it has identified the significant under-representation of indigenous nurses and midwives in the health workforce, and is doing a wonderful job in supporting the increased recruitment and retention of indigenous people in those professions.

Given that nurses and midwives make up 50% of the entire health workforce – providing the frontline services in many indigenous communities – their contribution is essential in helping to deliver high quality, culturally appropriate health care services.

Given that indigenous Australians still have a life expectancy at birth that is 17 years less than non-indigenous Australians, and that they still suffer 2.5 times the burden of disease compared to non-indigenous Australians, it is clear that CATSINaM’s mission is vital in closing those unconscionable gaps.

It is a pleasure to congratulate everyone involved in this important work, and now to introduce Ms Chloe Shorten to address us.