Senate Select Committee on Women's Health - Perth, WA
8 November 2026
Contents updated on 9 Nov 2026
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Senate Select Committee on Women's Health Parliament of Australia
Follow its sittings14:36 - 16:44
Senator | SA
Open this public hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Women's Health, and I begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to their elders past and present. And I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people joining us here today. The committee will be conducting today's hearing in person from Perth and via teleconference. My name is Senator Marielle Smith. I'm the chair of this committee, and I'm joined today in person by Senators Whitaker and Senator Payman and on the phone we have Senator Ruston, and I believe later we'll have Senator Kovacic joining us as well.
These are public proceedings being video streamed live via the Parliament's website, and a Hansard transcript is being made. I remind all witnesses presenting that in giving evidence to the committee, they are protected by parliamentary privilege. It is unlawful for anyone to threaten or disadvantage a witness on account of evidence given to a committee, and such action may be treated by the Senate as a contempt.
It is also a contempt to give false or misleading evidence. The committee prefers evidence to be given in public, but under the Senate's resolutions witnesses have the right to request to be heard in confidence, described as being in camera. If you are a witness today and intend to request to give evidence in camera, please bring this to the attention of the secretariat as soon as possible. If a witness objects to answering a question, the witness should state the ground upon which the objection is taken, and the committee will determine whether it will insist on an answer, having regard to the ground which is claimed. If the committee determines to insist on an answer, a witness may request that the answer be given in camera.
Such a request may, of course, also be made at any other time. I remind senators of their obligations under the behaviour code for Australian parliamentarians to treat witnesses with dignity, courtesy, fairness and respect, and I remind committee members and witnesses who are appearing via teleconference and who are not speaking to mute their microphones, please. A witness speaking for the first time should state their full name, the capacity in which they appear and witnesses should speak clearly and into the microphones to assist Hansard to record proceedings. Mobile phones and other electronic devices should be switched off or turned to silent mode. Also, we'll just acknowledge that we do have Senator Maria Kovacic on the line.
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