NRWC Funded to Continue to 2013

Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek and Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development Maxine McKew recently announced funding for the continuation of the National Rural Women’s Coalition.

The Coalition will become the National Rural Women’s Coalition and Network, (NRWC&N) and is one of six newly announced Alliances which will engage actively with the Australian Government on policy issues as part of a more informed and representational dialogue between women and government.

“The NRWC will ensure that rural women from across Australia are better able to share information, identify issues from their communities and raise concerns.” Said Ms Plibersek and she encouraged the Alliances to  “align strategically with government priorities, building broad collaborative networks to ensure representation for all women, especially those who found it difficult in the past to engage in advocacy and decision making”.

The NRWC currently provides a voice for over 250,000 women in rural, regional and remote Australia through its indigenous membership and member oganisations: the CWA (Australia) Australian Local Government Women’s Association, Federation of Australian Agricultural Women, and Australian Women in Agriculture, Women in the Seafood Community, Rural Doctor’s Association of Australia (Women Doctors Group) and the National Rural Health Alliance.

“NRWC ensure that the voices of women in rural and regional Australia are heard said “lesley Young, Chair of the NRWC.  “ The NRWC will look towards working closely with the other Alliances, especially the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Alliance (NATSIWA) and Australian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Alliance (AIRWA), both of whom have a large number of previously underrepresented constituents in rural, regional and remote Australia” said Mrs. Young.

NRWC will now broaden its brief to include state representatives in its yet to be formed national rural women’s network which will compliment the valuable work done by state rural women’s networks. NRWC&N invites individuals, communities and interest groups who would like to share information, voice opinions or join with others to lobby government, ensuring representation for all women in rural, regional and remote Australia to contact the NRWC&N or visit their website nrwcn.org.au.