On the eve of a Federal Election, the Australian Labor Party is poised to become the first political party to be represented by 50% women, well ahead of its target of 50/50 by 2025. This success story is in large part due to the research and advocacy of EMILY’s List Australia about the importance of affirmative action strategies for nurturing women leaders.

Now, bold new research to be undertaken by Stephanie Milione, the second recipient of the Julia Gillard Next Generation Internship, will investigate the experiences of women candidates from culturally diverse backgrounds to ensure that all women benefit from Labor’s gender target.

Stephanie will interview women candidates from diverse backgrounds contesting the 2019 Federal Election, including Labor’s candidate for Chisholm, Jennifer Yang, the candidate for Deakin, Shireen Morris, the candidate for Menzies, Stella Yee and the candidate for Kooyong, Jana Stewart. Stephanie will also undertake an overseas placement to compare the experiences of culturally diverse women candidates in the United States.

Stephanie is a senior consultant at Nous Group, a graduate of the Pathways to Politics Program for Women and Past President of the Victorian Women Lawyers where she focused on ‘revenge porn’ and the gender pay gap.  Her internship continues EMILY’s List Australia and Ms Gillard’s commitment to foster the next generation of talented progressive women leaders.   

“From my work at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, I know the evidence shows diverse teams perform better. That means there is much to be gained if our parliaments are truly representative of our communities. We need to find the best ways of ensuring women from culturally diverse backgrounds get preselected, elected and have a fair opportunity to become a future Prime Minister. Congratulations to Stephanie on being this year’s intern. I’m excited to learn more about the unique challenges facing women from diverse backgrounds and how we can best support them.” - Ms Julia Gillard

“While the Coalition is struggling to attract any women to its political ranks, EMILY’s List Australia is supporting the next generation of Labor women, across all age groups and cultural backgrounds, to ensure they have the skills and resilience to succeed in politics. We thank the Australian Workers Union for their leadership in supporting the internship and sharing our vision.” - Ms Tanja Kovac, National Co-Convenor of EMILY’s List Australia

The Julia Gillard Next Generation Internship will be announced today at an event with Labor’s candidate for Deakin, Shireen Morris and the Federal Member for Barton Linda Burney, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services, Shadow Minister for Preventing Family Violence “In Conversation – Reconciliation: the way forward”