Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I welcome former Senator, Deputy and Minister, Ms Gemma Hussey, who has done so much to improve the position and increase the number of women in politics. I know she is continuing to do great work in that area with the 50:50 group.

I would like to see this principle extended to local and European elections, as recommended by the 2009 report on women in politics by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Women's Rights. The difficulty is how to do that. Where is the sanction? As we saw in all the research done in other countries, a sanction on parties who do not comply with the target is critical. That is the difficulty with local elections. I hope parties will endeavour to reach quota targets in the local elections, in preparation for the targets which will be enforceable in the next general election.

I reiterate to the Minister my wish that the seven years between the targets of 30% and 40% be reduced to five years. That would be a major step forward and would have a significant knock-on effect on the local elections.