Advocacy

Senator Hon. Anne Ruston visits Femili PNG in Lae

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It was an honour to have Senator the Honourable Anne Ruston visit the Femili PNG main office in Lae and meet the hard working staff on Saturday 2nd February 2019.

Senator the Hon. Anne Ruston is the Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific. She has represented Australia at numerous key international fora and seeks to build upon her strong relationships with Indo-Pacific Island countries in her portfolio.

Senator Hon. Anne Ruston was welcomed at Femili PNG’s Lae office with other important delegates, which included Advisor Bernadette Abraham, First Secretary (Economic) Ed Wilkinson, Consul-General to Lae Paul Murphy, Director for PNG Economic and Infrastructure in Canberra Glen Elson, and the Australian Consul-General from the High Commission Jo Stevens.

Femili PNG CEO Daisy Plana welcomed the guests and gave a brief background to the establishment of the organisation and provided insight to its work in assisting survivors of family and sexual violence.

Senator Hon. Anne Ruston expressed that the issue of domestic violence is an issue that is faced everywhere around the world. She stated that one of the things that the Australian Government is keen to achieve, especially with its programs which are part of the partnership with the Pacific, is ensuring that the issues of gender are embedded in the programs.

She added, “in countries that respect their women as much as they respect their men, and the women are seen as equal to their male counterparts, are countries that go from success to success.” She continued that the work done here plays a fundamental part of making sure that success is built into this country.

Senator Hon. Anne Ruston was very interested in listening to a few of the cases that were shared by the Case Work team during the discussion. However, time didn’t allow to hear more about the many cases that Femili PNG assists with in coordination with other service providers.

Femili PNG is supported by the Australian Government in partnership with the Government of Papua New Guinea as part of the Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development program.