When
Natasha Stott Despoja Came to Lunch
Anna Robinson
On the 18th October, 2002, ACT WISENET had a lunchtime meet at the lovely Vivaldi’s restaurant on ANU Campus. Our guest for the day was Senator Natasha Stott Despoja who is the Australian Democrats’ Science and Biotechnology spokesperson. The Senator was accompanied by her adviser, Jo Pride, who was also fun to have along and made many envy her job.
We started lunch with a roundtable of introductions. Some
notable moments: Suzy Close (Women-in-Medicine) spoke of the importance of
leadership and encouraged the Senator to keep going and stay inspiring. It IS
an achievement for Natasha to have attained such high profile leadership role
in a career like politics while still so young. Suzy’s encouragement was
resounding and supported by all. We continued around the table when Gina
Newton (new WISENET Public Officer) described her position as ‘going through a
career crisis at the moment’. Natasha was like lightning with her empathic
“tell me about it! so am I!”. Much mirth!
Alison Edwards told of her new appointment to the executive
of NTEU and the process went on. We concluded with Haley Jones, Engineering
Lecturer, who delighted us by remembering her time at Adelaide University when
Natasha Stott Despoja was the Students’ Association President. It was fun to
have past and present merge.
Natasha then spoke to us about her background and interest in science. What seemed amazing was how one that is not trained in science can be so knowledgeable and erudite in discussing contemporary scientific issues. It was interesting and enlightening to hear how the political debates are carried out, about the political players and how they work, and how the politics that define our futures are decided. Natasha drew our attention to the stem cell debate, biotechnology, patents and intellectual property issues, GMOs and matters relating to the Space Activities Bill. She welcomed the current debate in Parliament regarding biotechnology issues but pointed out it was long overdue. Natasha explained she has been calling for a ban on human cloning since at least 1997 and has introduced two Private Member’s Bills relating to gene patenting and genetic privacy and non-discrimination.
We had some more very lively interactions with women scientists from France, Italy, Ireland, South Africa and the UK, joining in discussion on the attitudes to science in Australia and how we develop a voice! Natasha responded with suggestion, direction and great enthusiasm and inspiration… it is clear that there is much in politics that is parallelled in science. And it is clear that we have a very interested and approachable politician in Senator Natasha Stott Despoja to whom we can go with our concerns.
Our enormous thanks to Natasha and Jo for coming along to the lunch. Grateful thanks also to Gail Kelly, ACT WISENET Convenor, for organising the event. Most memorable.