Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Katie Woolf spoke with Minister for Education Lauren Moss

Transcript

Katie Woolf spoke with Minister for Education Lauren Moss · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you want to know what's happening on the local
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: political landscape, Katie Wolf has it covered on three sixty.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Every one is listening Mix one oh four point nine.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: And it is such a busy morning this morning. And
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: it's a bit of a rule with us here on
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: three point sixty that we don't have more than one
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: minister on in an hour or a day sometimes. But
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: this is a really good positive story. We know that
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: today is International Women's Day and the government is making
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: sure that students have access to essential sanitary products. Now
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: joining me on the line is the Minister for Education,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a Minister for Women, Lauren Mosk.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Good morning, minister, Good morning Katie, and happy International Women's
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Day and.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: To you too. Now this is a really good announcement.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: It means that more than eighty seven hundred female students
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: are set to have access to essential and accessible sanitary products. Minister,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: why has the government decided to make this announcement?
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Look, Katie, I think all in all, this is just
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: something really practical that actually is not that hard to
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: do and probably should have been done a long time ago.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: And you know, it just means that we can take
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: the pressure off schools a bit, so some schools might
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: be doing this already and meeting the cost through their
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: school budgets. Lots of schools won't be doing these. These
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: are not luxury items. Pads, tampons, other sanitary items are
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: things that you know, all young women are going to
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: need at some point, and this is just about acknowledging
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: exactly that they're not luxury items, just about women's health.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: And it's a forty thousand dollars initiative and it is
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: set to commence in term two in our government schools.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Like you said, it's going to ensure that those territory
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: students have got the confidence that they well that they're
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: going to be able to access these essential items. And
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: you know, look, I guess for some of us you go, oh, okay,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: well how come you need to get them at school?
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: But for others it's you know, no young woman should
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: feel embarrassed that they're not actually to access these things.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: And I think that if you know, if it means
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: that they're then able to and don't have to, you know,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I don't have to feel embarrassed about that. Like you said,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: this is not a luxury item. This is something that's essential.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and I think if you're in a position of thinking,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: you know, why does somebody need to access that at school?
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: You're probably in a relatively good position yourself, or you're
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: a man and you don't need to use fanetary products yourself.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: But look, I think we have to also acknowledge that
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: in some cases across the territory, you know, we have
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: got kids who are coming from houses that might be
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: really overcrowded, where families can't forward the basic items and
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: they can be incredibly expensive, and so you know, this
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: acknowledges that for one and makes it a lot easier
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: for those young girls. But I think just on the whole,
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: as you say, let's take the stigma away from it
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: and the embarrassment and just make sure that these things
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: are easy for girls to access when they're at school,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: whether it's you know, through school nurse or in another
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: accessible location in the school. It just needs to be
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: normalized and just you know, girls just need to know
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: they've got that backup and that support and it's just
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: a normal part of life and it's something we can
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: support them in.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Minister, I've got a message here from Ben and it says, Hi, Katie,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: could you please ask Minister Mosse the following. Will the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: free sanitary products be available for international students too? Is
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: there room to expand this project for a VET and
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: h E students That one there from Ben Well.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: I think that's a really good question. So in terms
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: of this role out, we're focused obviously on our territory
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: public schools. They're the ones that the Department of Education
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: is directly responsible for. But absolutely I think it would
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: be great to see places like Charles Darwin University and
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: other providers taking the initiative to do this as well.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: So you know, this is just the first step. We're
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: running a bit of a trial because we know in
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: a community by community basis it might just look a
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: bit different how it rolls out in the school. But yeah,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I hope other education providers, so you know what, we
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: should be doing that too. This isn't a big thing,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: it's something that actually we can all do relatively easily.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Minister Moss, we really appreciate your time today
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: and I'll be seeing you at lunch. You and I
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: both speaking at an International Women's Day event which is
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: being put on by the United Nations of Australia's Association
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: for the Territory.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Looking Forward to it and it's a great day to
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: highlight just the incredible Territory women that we have out
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: and about in our community.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely good on your minister, thanks so much for
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: your time today.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: That's Minister Lauren Moss there, and obviously with that announcement
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: there are the Territory government is going to be making
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: sure that students have access to those essential senatory products.