Each year Emily’s List WA recognises the achievements of two women through the Pat Giles Award and the Don’t Be Too Polite Girl Award at the annual Pat Giles Lunch. The Pat Giles Award celebrates a lifetime of achievement and acknowledges the significant contribution the recipient has made to empowering women in the labour movement. Previous recipients include Cheryl Davenport, Helen Creed, Diana Warnock, Sharryn Jackson, Carol Martin, Nina Devlin, Yvonne Henderson, and Lyla Elliot. The Don’t Be Too Polite Girl Award recognises the potential of a young woman or a woman at the beginning of her career to become a leader in the labour movement. This award aims to encourage a woman who is active in the labour movement to make waves and continue their work to empower other women. Past recipients include Fiona Henderson, Sarah Seymour, Linda Goncalves, Alex Cassie, Gemma Black, Ellie Whiteaker, and Mia Onorato-Sartari. So, we’re putting the call out to you! Do you know a woman who deserves to be recognised? Nominations close Monday 21st October 2019. Please fill out the Pat Giles Award nomination form and tell us a bit about the woman you’re nominating.  Please fill out the Don’t Be Too Polite Girl Award nomination form and tell us a bit about the woman you’re nominating.  Winners will be announced at the Pat Giles Lunch on Sunday 27th October 2019. Book your ticket to the event online by clicking here. 

It's that time of year again: nominate your favourite feminists from around the country for the recognition they deserve! Award winners will be announced at our Annual General Meeting in Melbourne on Friday November 29th 2019. Nominations close on Sunday 8th November 2019, please see the below forms for details on how to submit.  EMILY Award The EMILY award is reserved for individual women who have shown exceptional courage, determination, innovation and commitment to issues, reforms and practices that promote and progress women’s position in Australian society. Such a recipient may have also increased access to important and often essential services that women may require, desire or need. The winner of the EMILY Award will:• be a member of EMILY’s List• be an EMILY’s list volunteer who has made a major ongoing contribution to the promotion of the EMILY’s List principles of choice, equity, childcare, equal pay and diversity. Winners cannot be a current member of EMILY’s List’s national committee, as this committee decides the award recipient/s. Click here for the EMILY Award nomination form  Mollie Smith Award The Mollie Smith Award is presented annually by her family to honour their mother Mollie Smith’s many years of volunteer service to the Labor Party. Mollie is honoured for her support for issues affecting women, her community work and her mentoring of young women interested in politics and community action. The winner/s of the Mollie Smith Award will be current EMILY’s List members and volunteers who have made a major ongoing contribution to the organisation in such areas as:• political campaigning• administration• mentoring• fundraising• training• communications and membership Winners cannot be a current member of EMILY’s List’s national committee, as this committee decides the award recipient/s. Click here for the Mollie Smith Award nomination form

EMILY’s List Australia (ELA) is seeking applications for the 2020 Julia Gillard Next Generation Intern. Why an internship? Targeting the next generation of women In Julia Gillard’s last media conference as Prime Minister, she said “What I am confident of is that it will be easier for the next woman and the woman after that and the woman after that. And I’m proud of that.” The Julia Gillard Next Generation Internship (JGNGI) is an opportunity for young women to develop skills to become the next generation of progressive female MPs. An international political internship in the name of our first woman Prime Minister will provide emerging women leaders the opportunity to learn from progressive political parties and institutions beyond Australia’s borders and establish international friendships important for their political careers. Further, it will increase our knowledge of the types of support emerging women leaders need to become MPs, win elections and lead effectively. Interns will research the strategies and policies in place around the world to help get women elected. In 2015, EMILY’s List fought hard to change the ALP’s Affirmative Action quota rule. By 2025, 50% of ALP candidates must be women. Building on this advocacy, this intern will examine world’s best policies and practice in the ELA core areas of childcare, equal pay, diversity and choice, and how advocating for such issues empowers women and gets them elected. Our hope is that a future woman Prime Minister will be among the alumni of the Julia Gillard Next Generation Internship. Selection Criteria All applications for the internship will be assessed against the following criteria: Demonstrated knowledge of, or interest in, one or more of the ELA principles Previous leadership activities Experience in undertaking research with a degree of autonomy and self-direction Demonstrated ability to complete projects with a degree of autonomy and self-direction Willingness to publicly advocate for ELA principles and the importance of the role of women in leadership positions Eligibility In order to be eligible for the internship, the applicant must; Be a woman who is living in Australia and is either an Australian citizen or has Australian residency status; Be member of EMILY’s List Australia Be a member of the ALP Be aged between 21 and 30 years of age at 1 January of the year of the internship Not previously have been a recipient of the internship Application process To apply, please send your checklist, CV and cover letter addressing the selection criteria via email or post to: Dr Maree Overall CEO EMILY’s List Australia Level 2, 210 Lonsdale Street MELBOURNE VIC 3000   Email: ceo@emilyslist.org.au   Subject Line:  JGNGI 2020 Application – (SURNAME)   Applications close midnight AEST Sunday 20 October 2019 See full terms and conditions in the application form:  https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/emilyslistaus/pages/277/attachments/original/1569376176/JGNGI_App_2020.pdf   Principal sponsor Major sponsor 

The 2019 Federal election failed to increase the cultural diversity of elected representatives’ and where diverse candidates, especially women, faced greater racism and abuse.  The latest Julia Gillard Next Generation Intern report by Stephanie Milione, A Truly Representative Democracy, explores the challenges and opportunities women candidates face and how both ELA and the Australian Labor Party can best support women in the future.   The report will be released today by Ms Gillard AC and is the result of second Julia Gillard Next Generation Internship.It demonstrates that we must improve our support First Nation women and women from CALD backgrounds if they are to be elected. This internship gives life to the shared vision of Ms Gillard and ELA to promote and make political life easier for the next generation of talented progressive women leaders. Stephanie interviewed Indigenous and CALD Labor women candidates, former and current MPs, about their experience on the campaign trail.  She also investigated the surge of women candidates in the 2018 midterm elections on a study tour of the USA visiting EMILY’s List USA, America Votes, Emerge America, the Center for American Women and Politics and the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University. Quote from Ms Julia Gillard “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. Congratulations to Stephanie on being this year’s intern and shining a light on the unique challenges facing women from diverse backgrounds and how we can best support them to get preselected, elected and have a fair opportunity to become a future Prime Minister.”  Quote from Ms Stephanie Milione, the 2019 Julia Gillard Next Generation Intern “The pipeline of talent needs to be fostered early and tandem quotas for diversity should be considered to give legitimacy to our system of representative democracy and arrest the decline in respect for our governments.” Quote from Ms Tanja Kovac, National Co-Convenor of EMILY’s List Australia “We take seriously our work to ensure women with intersecting attributes of difference and diversity win elections and will do all we can to implement the recommendations in this report. We thank the Australian Workers Union and Slater and Gordon Lawyers for their leadership in supporting the internship and sharing our vision.” Media Contact: Tanja Kovac, National Co-Convenor                    0419 910 577 / ceo@emilyslist.org.au   Read the report here: https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/emilyslistaus/pages/276/attachments/original/1568590507/EMILY's_List_JGNGI_report_2019.pdf  

Today 15 MPs from Labor, Liberals, Greens, Animal Justice & Independents are introducing a bill to decriminalise abortion in NSW. We wish the best of luck to Penny Sharpe MLC, Trish Doyle MP, Jenny Aitchison MP & Jo Haylen & all of our EMILY's List MPs advocating for the right to choose. Stand by them in the fight for reproductive freedom, join EMILY's List.

Now that there has been some time for considered reflection on the election outcome, we are seeking EMILY's List Australia members' and supporters' views on the Australian Labor Party's 2019 federal election campaign. As in previous years, a report will be submitted to the ALP review process. We ask that you complete our anonymous survey and include any comments. There has already been some commentary and media analysis of the campaign and the results, such as in the Sydney Morning Herald and at the Conversation.  The ALP will be reviewing the suite of policies presented to voters and over the term of the 46th Parliament will present again as an alternative government at the next federal election. That process starts now with this review and we want to see a continued emphasis on the policies that directly impact on women. The survey will be open until 5pm AEST on Friday 30th July 2019. Complete the survey over here