By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Barely pausing from a landslide election campaign, Dandenong’s newest cabinet member Gabrielle Williams says the hard work is in front of her.
Her first days as a Minister were a blur of briefings and meetings with new advisers and departments as well as a first Cabinet meeting.
Now it’s time to deliver in the portfolios of Prevention of Family Violence, for Women and for Youth which are at “the heart of the Government agenda”, Ms Williams says.
“We’ve got runs on the board but there’s more to do.”
Top of her agenda is delivering on the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Family Violence.
About $2.5 billion had been invested by the Government on that path, including the roll-out of ‘Orange Door’ safety hubs. Many recommendations are still in progress, many are still to come.
“Yet we have to do it in a thorough way,” Ms Williams said.
“It’s not just about ticking things off for the sake of it, but for the outcomes to be realised.”
Part of that was ensuring services work in the best possible way. The other part is “long term cultural change”, particularly in attitudes to women.
“We can’t talk about prevention of family violence without talking about attitudes to family violence.”
Ms Williams’ Twitter feed references a recent example of why “things have to change”.
She links to the presentation of the prestigious Ballon d’Or to Norwegian soccer star Ada Hegerberg, in which she was asked to twerk on stage.
There’s more room for equal representation in workplaces, sports clubs and decision making at all levels of the community, Ms Williams said.
Some gender-equality issues are not yet obvious to people. They’re accepted as the norm in some areas.
The Andrews’ gender-equal Cabinet with 11 women and 11 men was a strong statement in tackling old notions.
Women ministers were appointed traditionally ‘male’ portfolios, such as roads and energy.
“It gives us a really exciting opportunity to tackle some of those big issues that are often driven by women and impact on women in our community,” Ms Williams said.
She pointed to the “bold vision” of female ministers in the last term.
Such as Health Minister Jill Hennessy’s spearheading of controversial reform such as voluntary-assisted dying and medicinal cannabis.
The reforms were divisive but earned Ms Hennessy great respect for her political bravery, Ms Williams said.
Now the Government was set to deliver on its promised “positive” agenda in health, education, infrastructure and tackling congestion, she said.
There was the injection of fresh energy and voice from new MPs unexpectedly winning Liberal seats in the Eastern suburbs.
“There’s an enormous amount of excitement in our team … over what can be achieved in the next four years.”
