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Fragment    Next Fragment Tuesday, 20 March 2012 Page: 3623  Mr
DREYFUS (IsaacsCabinet Secretary, Parliamentary Secretary for
Industry and Innnovation and Parliamentary Secretary for Climate
Change and Energy Efficiency) (16:52): I rise to speak on the
condolence motion moved by the Prime Minister in honour of
Margaret Whitlam AO, one of Australia's most remarkable women,
who was a catalyst for the progress of women's rights, a devoted
wife, a loving mother and a life member of the Australian Labor
Party. I want to briefly note her contribution to women's rights
and liberties.  The Australia that Margaret Whitlam was born
into in 1919 was, for women, a vastly different Australia from
the nation that we know today. Margaret was born in an era when
the public service would require a woman to resign from her
position when she married, an era when women had held the right
to vote for less than two decades and