I have now kicked off the national Listening Tour here in Adelaide. My team and I flew in yesterday morning to a beautiful sunny day and a warm welcome from the Committee for Economic Development in Australia (South Australia). CEDA (SA) organised a Business Roundtable hosted by the Equal Opportunity Commission of South Australia. We discussed some of the well known barriers to women and men balancing their work and caring responsibilities. It was heartening to hear from small business representatives that it is sometimes easier to change work practice in smaller organisations where you have more control.

We had wide ranging discussions about what work means in 2007 and the difficulty of re-designing jobs to fit that redefined concept of work. For example, a number of people told us about part-time solutions that were simply five day a week jobs squashed into three days.

In the afternoon we met with the South Australian Working Women’s Centre. We heard about the important work that they do in advising women about their rights in the workplace. Drawing on their experience with clients, they shared some of their concerns, particularly about habitual discrimination that women face in the workplace. With an ageing workforce, one of the interesting challenges is how to manage employee health in a way that works for individuals and the business. Menopause is one area that pertains only to women that is often overlooked.

The centrepiece of my day yesterday was a community consultation attended by approximately sixty members of the public. My three themes resonated with people. A key message was that paid maternity leave was definitely a priority although people also raised the importance of fathers being able to have paid leave as well so that they too could spend time with their new born children.

Some people commented on the embarrassment they felt that Australia is now only one of two OECD countries that does not have paid maternity leave, while they also highlighted that paid maternity leave is not enough on its own for women to achieve economic independence. Some women told us that they were not in a position to negotiate their pay, let alone family-friendly work conditions.

On the issue of sexual harassment, many people thought that Nadine’s story, in which management responded swiftly to address sexual harassment, was unrealistic - in one participant’s words a ‘fairytale’.

The general view was that when women did complain about sexual harassment, they were further victimized, a view shared by the Business Roundtable - labelling making a complaint as ‘career death’.  There were many more issues raised with us which will be reflected in our report in due course.

That’s all for now from me, as I head off on Day Two of the Tour.

Liz