International Women’s Day: Cook pledges to ‘provide opportunities’ for women to be elevated in Government

Premier Roger Cook could not say on International Women’s Day when he would achieve gender parity on his frontbench — only pledging to “provide opportunities” for women to be promoted. Women make up more than half of WA Labor’s mammoth 53-member lower house caucus and, as of Magenta Marshall’s byelection win to replace Mark McGowan in Rockingham, the legislative assembly has more women than men. But in cabinet, the split is 10 to seven in favour of male frontbenchers. It had been 11 to six last year until Bill Johnston quit to sit on the backbench and was replaced by Hannah Beazley. In the Cook Government’s outer-ministry, there are nine male parliamentary secretaries and six female. Asked on Friday — while touting measures to increase the number of women working on non-residential builds — if he could set a timeline for when there would be gender parity in cabinet, Mr Cook said his frontbench featured a “significant number” of women. “We’re always taking the opportunity to make sure that my Government reflects the people that we represent, which is the reason why diversity in the parliament and diversity in cabinet is such an important objective to strive for,” he said. “We have a significant number of really strong women who are representing the people of Western Australia in Cabinet today. “And we will continue to make sure that we provide opportunities for women to be elevated and to take leadership roles in the Government.” After Mr McGowan’s landslide win in 2021 ,he sacked Dave Kelly and Peter Tinley from cabinet — citing the need for more women and replacing the pair with Sabine Winton and Jackie Jarvis. The Government took a step back in its goal for parity when Alannah MacTiernan retired to be replaced by David Michael. Anthony Albanese has 10 women in his 23-member cabinet, with Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s cabinet consisting of 15 women and seven men and the NSW Government achieving gender parity in 2023 after Labor won power. Mr Cook was with Women’s Interest Minister Sue Ellery at Fremantle Hospital on International Women’s Day, announcing the Government was partnering with ADCO construction to boost the number of women employed on construction of the hospital’s Mental Health ward redevelopment. ADCO is committing to appointing at least 25 per cent female staff in its team and at least 10 per cent through its trade partners. A procurement pilot will rollout in July that will see Government trading enterprises, such as Synergy and Aqwest, require suppliers to comply with Workplace Gender Equality Agency reporting rules. Third-year plumbing apprentice Emma Fensom will work on the Fremantle Hospital and said she was often the only female on site. “There’s definitely challenges in workplace culture. It’s quite isolating being the only female on site and you can’t always join in with conversation and you don’t always feel like you fit in,” Ms Fensom said. “But I think we’ve already come a long way. And just bringing more women on site and into trades can only bring positive change.”