NEWS RELEASE
April 15 2003
SA
women slam the Constitutional Convention as
an opportunity missed
South
Australia women have slammed the outline for SA’s first Constitutional
Convention saying it is narrow, uninspiring and a missed opportunity.
According
to a broad cross section of South Australian women – including lawyers,
trade unionists, academics, researchers, politicians across the major
parties, policy practitioners, and community activists – the convention
is shaping up to be a narrow debate that will have limited value to the
community in the long run and that is critically lacking in failing to
tackle reforms that support women’s contribution to a modern society.
Gathered
at a forum organised by UniSA’s Hawke Research Institute, the group of
experts said there were significant flaws in the outline of the
convention, which was a missed opportunity to make important
constitutional reforms.
Spokesperson
for the group, Professor
Alison Mackinnon said the very structure of the Convention and the
issues on the agenda for review would limit women’s input to the debate.
“We
have the opportunity to do this well, with a measure of professionalism,
inspiration and a passion for equity and democracy that befits a long
standing SA tradition of reform, innovation and social justice,”
Professor Mackinnon said.
“Instead
we are being delivered a very constrained opportunity to review a few very
narrow aspects of the constitution – looking at only five fairly idiosyncratic
and in some cases peripheral issues while ignoring some of the meaningful
reforms that could be made.”
The
forum expressed concern that a huge amount of time, effort and public
money that would be spent to little effect.
“As
a group of representative women we have delivered our submission to the
Convention, which points out that fundamentally important questions of
constitutional reform – including re-examining gender representation
issues, the outcomes of tied elections, the work ethos and the culture of
Parliament itself - have been left right off the agenda.
“Given an economic
climate in SA represented by diminishing health, education and community
services, if we are to invest a significant amount of money into
reassessing constitutional issues it should be undertaken in a spirit of
gender and social equity. We need to be looking at what we can do to lay
down improvements that will be of benefit to all South Australians in the
long term not just the interests and hobby horses of those who are
dominating the structure and nature of the convention right now.”
Director of the
Hawke Institute, Professor Mackinnon said it was time for South Australia
to take up the reform agenda and re-establish itself at the forefront of
international best practice.
“The approach to
this Convention shows up as old-fashioned and out of touch with world
developments – it is no wonder people believe we are a cultural
backwater,” Professor Mackinnon said.
“The current
questions have to be broadened to include some debate about gender
equality and representation, both in the make up of our parliaments and
the processes by which they debate and legislate. At this time we should
be discussing the optimum gender distribution necessary for responsible
government and representative democracy; how we can achieve gender parity
in our parliaments; how current structures can be reviewed and improved to
be more family friendly and less adversarial; and how our parliamentary
and legislative processes could ensure that the gender impact of
legislation is examined,” she said.
“The
rest of the world is leaving us far behind in these matters. Not only are
we blissfully ignorant to this, the loudest voices in the debate here in
SA are directing public attention into side issues of little significance
in comparison.”
In
the meantime Adjunct
Professor Eleanor Ramsay says there are practical, effective and
achievable measures already in place elsewhere in the world, which could
be considered in the SA Convention.
“In
South Africa and Scandinavia a gender equality clause and gender-inclusive
language in the Constitution and other key documents have already been
adopted,” she said.
“Scotland’s
Parliament has an Equality Committee to ensure that a gender review is
undertaken on all legislation, so why can’t we? And because political parties are so powerful in determining
the composition of the Parliament, we could think about cutting public
funding to parties that don’t achieve equal gender representation, just
as they do in France.
“If
we are serious about democracy, then we will be serious about achieving
equality and fairness in representation and in debating these issues
vigorously.”
Professor
Ramsay said the SA women’s submission also recommended a parliamentary
gender audit each year, to be presented to the Parliament; a new code of
conduct to encourage more effective communication (less bully boy
behaviour); a work and family life audit of the current sitting
arrangements; and the introduction of gender impact assessment of all
electoral changes.
Media
contacts:
Adjunct Professor Eleanor Ramsay 0418812190 (mobile)
Professor Alison Mackinnon 8302 4370
(wk) 040 2065761 (mobile)
Hawke Research Institute 8302 4369 (office)
