Joint media release

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator Marise Payne, and the Member for Cowper, Pat Conaghan, will co-host a roundtable in Port Macquarie today to hear directly from women in the community about the particular effects that the bushfires are having on women.

The Mid North Coast area has been seriously impacted by the extreme bushfires. Port Macquarie-Hastings Council was one of 42 local councils provided with $1 million by the Morrison Government to help quickly rebuild vital infrastructure and strengthen community resilience.

Today’s roundtable was held to engage local health and community service providers, women’s groups and community leaders to discuss what more might be done to support women in Cowper.

“The bushfires have followed on from one of the worst droughts any of us can remember and I know this is compounding the effects on women across the community,” Senator Payne said.

Natural disasters including bushfires can affect women in particular ways. Rates of domestic violence for example tend to rise during natural disasters.

Where women are engaged heavily in casual employment and tourism areas, bushfires can disproportionately hit their livelihood.

“Today, I am working with other levels of government, business, local health practitioners and women’s groups to determine the best way to alleviate this,” Senator Payne said.

The Morrison Government has committed $2 billion to the National Bushfire Recovery Fund, which aims to support affected communities to get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

Mr Conaghan said the recent announcement by Health Minister Greg Hunt of an initial $76 million for mental health support for bushfire-impacted areas nationally would go a way towards helping his electorate.

“Women make up the largest number of caregivers in our area as they are normally the primary carer of children and the elderly. They also make up about half our workforce, so they have been engaged in delivering front line services both during and after the fires,” he said.

“So today is really about gauging how they are going, what assistance they have been receiving and where there may potentially be gaps so that we can work together to improve this.”

Groups participating in today’s roundtable include local branches of the Country Women’s Association, Zonta, domestic and family violence specialist services, business women’s network groups, chambers of commerce and Regional Development Australia. It will also be attended by mayors from two shires surrounding Port Macquarie – Liz Campbell and Rhonda Hoban – and North Coast Local Health District board member Janine Reed and the Member for Port Macquarie, Leslie Williams MP.

Media contact:
Senator Payne – David Wroe 0429 531 143
Mr Conaghan – Liz Spry 0418 928 744