Tuesday, 3 March 2026

 Katie HALL (Footscray) (14:46): This sitting week I am keen to celebrate the women in my electorate – the trailblazers, the community leaders, the volunteers who do so much for my electorate of Footscray. I would like to start with the amazing women who are principals in my electorate: at Footscray North Primary School, Kay Willmott; at Footscray City Primary School, Jessie Hand; at Footscray High School, Jillian English; at Footscray High Pilgrim, Jen Bashford; at Footscray High Barkly, Vicki; at St John’s Catholic School Footscray, Emily Conroy; at Kingsville Primary School we have got the lovely Emma; at Yarraville West Primary School, Karen Rush; at St Monica’s Primary we have Andrea; and at Footscray Primary, Jen Briggs. There are also amazing sporting organisations run by women: Mischa’s Boxing, the Maribyrnong Swifts, the mighty West Footscray Bokkers, Yarraville Seddon Football Club, the Women’s Circus, Footscray United Rangers, Rise Netball and of course the Bulldogs AFLW. I would like to acknowledge Elizabeth Drozd from Footscray Rotary; Amanda from Yarraville Traders; Nicky Chung at the Vietnamese Women’s Association; our very own Jill Hennessy, the chair of Western Health; Julia White, the outgoing chair at Footscray Community Arts and incoming deputy chair Bianca Benjamin; and of course Jen West.