'From the Matildas to some of the most important appointments in the country, Australian women are beginning to receive the acknowledgement and opportunities at the top of their fields that unquestionably until now have been denied.'
She told ABC News' World Today program that back then, when the Matildas played in Australia, it was usually in front of 1,000 to 2,000 people — a far cry from the 75,000 she joined in Sydney to watch the team.The Matildas broke — then twice equalled — the record for the largest audience at a soccer game in Australia, male or female, with sold-out crowds.
"They deserve to be commended for promoting women to these positions. Not all that long ago, Tony Abbott had one woman in his cabinet. That was his deputy Julie Bishop, who was entitled to choose her portfolio and became foreign minister, and he resisted the pleas of his colleagues, including Julie, to appoint more."Savva adds that Bullock and Hartland are "eminently well qualified to take on these jobs".
"The independents who ran in the Liberal heartland seats campaigned on three issues: climate, integrity and gender. Senior Liberals derided them and underestimated them. Once upon a time, they would have killed to recruit them."Professor Christine Wallace, from the University of Canberra, says the Hartland and Bullock appointments show what happens when merit across the whole population, not half of it, is considered for institutional leadership positions.
"The securitisation of Australian politics under the Howard government in the wake of the September 11 attacks intensified this. The militaristic tone that permeated Australian public life as a result reinforced the Coalition's already masculinist ethos and skewed leadership appointments by gender for a generation."
Says Niki Savva: "If Penny Wong was in the lower house, she would dead-set be Labor leader and probably prime minister. Her performance has been faultless – a point readily conceded by her admiring male colleagues. Clare is impressive, and so far is doing very well in a demanding portfolio. She definitely has leadership potential in spades, but she has a way to go.
"ASIO has a number of problems, perhaps most importantly not being restored to its normal home, the Attorney-General's Department, in the administrative arrangements which followed the change of government. That needs fixing.
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