Editorial: Saluting our female MPs

WHAT a historic achievement for Tasmania that our Parliament has a higher proportion of female MPs than any other state.

Sarah Lovell, Jo Siejka, Madeleine Ogilvie, Sarah Courtney, Elise Archer, Cassy O’Connor, Ruth Forrest and Rebecca White outside Parliament House in Hobart. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

WHAT a historic achievement for Tasmania that our Parliament has a higher proportion of female MPs than any other state.

As political scientist Richard Eccleston told the Mercury yesterday, it is vital “for the health and legitimacy of democracy that Parliament reflects the diversity of a community”.

It is, after all, supposed to be a system of representative democracy.

And while there is still some way to go to achieve true gender balance in the Parliament (we are still only at 42.5 per cent female representation), this is an achievement that Tasmania should be proud of.

Premier Will Hodgman also deserves credit for setting a target for the Liberal Party to reach equal representation among its ranks — joining Rebecca White’s Labor Party, which has rules that dictate 50/50 representation.

As Greens leader Cassy O’Connor says, ensuring equal female representation in Parliament would go a long way to what should be a goal shared by all of us — that our girls and young women feel they have the same opportunities as the boys.

Once we do reach equal representation of the genders, the next challenge would be to also ensure that the ranks of our parliamentarians reflect more fairly the backgrounds of all those in our community — both ethnically and culturally.

New VC has big shoes to fill

TASMANIANS are a welcoming bunch, and there is no reason to believe that incoming University of Tasmania vice-chancellor Professor Rufus Black will not find his arrival in the new year anything but pleasant.

He has a job to do, however — building on the strong legacy left by his predecessor Professor Peter Rathjen.

The UTAS story has become central to the emergence of the bold new Tasmania.

As proud Tasmanians, we should all hope Prof Black is the right choice to ensure our university continues to take a leadership position in where our state is heading.