More than 60 women and a dozen brave men gathered at the Concord Community Centre on Friday 2nd July to find out more about “What Women Want” in the Inner West. An extremely diverse Panel comprised of Senator Bill Heffernan (Australian water resources, world food needs, population growth and alternatives for regional development); Dai Le (refugee experiences and positive migrant integration strategies); Anne-Marie Elias (financial independence for ageing women, whole of life independent living as a realistic goal and improving conditions for carers); and Sabah Hussain (the childcare task and future needs and options).
Many questions were put to Ms Elias concerning greater support for carers of the disabled. A system where relatives or friends of a disabled person could train and then register to deliver respite care was discussed. Families felt that using a person known to the disabled person would be much less stressful for both the disabled and their families.
The Forum suggested improving supporting services which would enable people to continue to live virtually independently in their own homes, rather than the present system which drives the elderly from their homes in a rush to access inner city real estate for high density development. The unintended consequence of moving the elderly from their homes is to remove them from their familiar suburban surroundings, reducing their self esteem and confidence thus leading to quicker physical and mental decline.
In response to a question concerning the water flow management system advocated by Peter Anderson, Senator Heffernan spoke at length on his passion for long term, bi-partisan planning to secure the food needs of Australia as part of a world food system. He pointed out the potential for agricultural development in the Ord River region, while some parts of Australia may need to reduce their agricultural activity.
Numerous other topics were raised – many unasked questions remained. The Forum Conveners (Strathfield Women’s Branch of the Liberal Party) invited all participants to assist in pursuing these issues, which would be split into two streams of (1) disability/carers/ageing-with-dignity/making migrants welcome and (2) long term planning for better use of the Australian environment.
The Participants recognized that many other issues were also important to women, and these should be pursued on another occasion.
Photo L to R: Burwood Mayor John Sidoti, SWB Pres Lea MacCarthy, NSW Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan, Burwood Councillor Henson Liang, and Mrs Helen Angelis.
