by Doreen Clark
On 31 May I attended the Round Table Meeting of Women's non-Government organisations (NGOs) in Canberra, representing WISENET in place of Margaret Hartley.
The meeting was held to provide a forum for communication between NGOs. Minister Dr Carmen Lawrence and Kathleen Townsend, First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women, stressed that good communications were vital if they were to be effective in addressing the needs of NGOs. WISENET should therefor become known to OSW if there is a perceived need to lobby on behalf of our membership.
The meeting covered a range of topics including the women's telephony project, a briefing on Budget 1995 outcomes for women, the influence of the media on the health and well-being of women, national training reform agenda and women of non-English speaking background, community attitudes to sole parents, an update on women's NGO peak body feasibility study, refocussing of Round Table Meetings, briefing on a report on women with disabilities, and an update on the UN fourth world conference on women in Beijing.
The issues covered were not directly related to WISENET's objectives and activities, most of them being concerned with social welfare, and I did not comment on WISENET's behalf on any topic.
I draw your attention to the first item on the agenda, Women's Telephony Project. It appears that WISENET could join the scheme and receive discounts on services and access to a number of modern communications systems which facilitate networking. We are asked to approve in principle. While the scheme would seem to provide revenue for organisations from their members' joining, there may be some difficulties and liabilities. It is worth investigating further.