SPEECH BY THE HON. DR CARMEN LAWRENCE MP. MINISTER ASSISTING THE PRIME MINISTER FOR THE STATUS OF WOMEN " PRESENTATION OF AUSTRALIA'S NATIONAL COMMITMENTS TO WOMEN FOURTH WORLD CONFERENCE ON WOMEN BENING SEPTEMBER 6, 1995Madam Chair, Excellencies, and Distinguished Delegates. Tam extremely proud to represent the women of Australia at this Conference because, as many of you would know, it was Australia that initiated the idea that this should be a "Conference of Commitments". The women of Australia want to see thc work of the UN become more focused, pragmatic and concrete and we are delighted that the concept of Governments making, practical, achievable promises to improve the status of women has been well and truly embraced - not only by women but by Governments. I would like to congratulate all the delegations that have seized this opportunity to improve the status of the women of their nations. May I also applaud the United Nations. In endorsing the Conference of Commitments proposal, the United Nations has shown that it is open to reform - that it will accommodate new ideas and new ways of achieving real change. Madam Chair, Australia believes that a Conference of Commitments will avoid what happened after Nairobi. Tm sure many of you would agree that the lengthy document which emerged from the Nairobi conference failed to achieve the progress that we all desired. It gave Governments too much choice with the result that many countries took little or no action to improve the status of women over the last 10 years. We must avoid repeating this mistake. We must make this conference relevant to the lives of women in each of our countries and by focusing on key strategic areas, each of us can make a real difference. But we don't have long. There are only five more years til the end of the century. We must avvelerate our action for change. We must ensure that when, at the next couference, we reflect on the decade that has passed, that we are celebrating the conclusion of a decade of real reform‘Madam Chair, | am delighted that this Conference has forced Australia to examine what still needs to be done to ensure Australian women achieve equal status with our male colleagues, partners and friends. ‘The lead up to this conference has been a time for both the Governments and people of ‘Australia to take stock of the past and prepare for the future - to envision what kind of nation we want for the next century. ‘We have had cause to celebrate all that we have achieved and how far we have come because Australian women have come along way in the last 10 years. A report released recently by the UN Development Program ranked Australia 6th out of 130 countries on a range of criteria including women's share of income and participation in education. Through tougher anti-discrimination laws, better education, a more flexible industrial system, real increases in family assistance paid to women, the establishment of a national women's health program, and a huge boost to child care, we have achieved real improvements in the status of women. Since 1986, life expectancy at birth for Australian women has increased from just over 78 years to nearly 81 years in 1993. ‘Women's total carnings are now 84 per cent of men's for full-time workers. More than 81 per cent of girls now complete the final year of high school - that is twice the rate of 15 years ago. Also, some 53 per cent of university students are now women. Australia was also one of the first countries to sign the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. This led to the landmark Sex Discrimination Act of 1984 (which we are now upgrading) and the Affirmative Action Act of 1986. ‘Australia is also the first country in the world to develop national strategy on women and the new information technologies. 3