Vida Goldstein and Cecilia Johns 1914
Parliament for Women.
To the Women of Kooyong.
Source: "Reason in Revolt", Source documents of Australian Radicalism;
First Published: as ‘To the Women of Kooyong’, Vida Goldstein, The Woman Voter. 28 July 1914,
Transcribed: by Andy Blunden; Proofed: and corrected by Nicole McKenzie.
1. Do you want your own views upon the questions of the day voiced in Parliament?
2. Do you want the interests of tens of thousands of women wage-earners to be properly safeguarded ?
3. Do you want the interests of women, who are wives and mothers, to be represented by a woman who understands them better than the best of men can do?
4. Do you want a representative who will voice your demand for an Equal Moral Standard for Men and Women, and that the highest?
5. Do you want the interests of wage-earning children, and of deserted wives and children, to be specially considered by Parliament from the women’s point of view?
6. Do you want a representative who will stand staunchly by women, who will never be too busy with other questions to consider their demands?
7. Do you want a representative who will put the honour of women and children before everything else, and protect them against the vicious and depraved. against the evils of the White Slave Traffic – a representative who will in fact value the purity of the woman a national question?
If You Want These Reforms, Then You Want
Women in ParliamentAnd you Will
Vote For
Miss Vida Goldsteinand will urge your men folk to vote for our woman candidate.
Miss Goldstein’s programme will appeal to all electors who are imbued with a love of justice and fair play, and a desire to see the people controlling Parliament instead of Parliament controlling the people.
Miss Goldstein’s Programme.
Federal Marriage and Divorce Law.
A law equal for men and women, giving both parents equal legal control over their children.
To Raise the Age of Marriage.
Marriage at twelve for girls and fourteen for boys is the present law.
Equal Pay for Men and Women.
To be a matter of law, and not subject to judicial decisions in the Arbitration Court, or to the whim of the Public Service Commissioner.
Equal Opportunities in the Commonwealth Public Service.
Obstacles are put in the way of women entering the service, and of being promoted to the positions to which their qualifications entitle them.
Justice for Semi-Official Postmistresses.
These officers have all the responsibilities of permanent officers, without any of their privileges.
Amendment of Naturalisation Act.
To prevent Australian women losing their nationality and their vote through marriage with a. foreigner.
Retention of Citizenship throughout the Empire. To secure an Imperial agreement which will, permit women enfranchised in one part of the Empire to acquire citizenship on equal terms with men in any other part of the Empire.
Maternity Allowance Act.
Women to be appointed instead of men as inspectors.
Protection of Deserted Wives and Children.
Reciprocal legislation, so that deserting husbands may be apprehended and prosecuted in any part of the Empire.
Protection of Women and Girls Against the White Slave Traffic.
Immigration and Emigration to be under Commonwealth control and the Commonwealth Parliament to protect the purity of the race.
Protection of Native Women and Children.
The children of New Hebrides and Papua are exploited for commercial purposes; the women for immoral purposes.
Abolition of Party Government.
Elective Ministries, to enable the most capable men and women to be elected to administer public departments.
Initiative and Referendum,
To establish a real democracy and make the people supreme in legislative matters.
New Protection.
To make Australia self-contained and self-supporting; to protect the worker, the consumer and the manufacturer, in regard to production and distribution.
Abolition of Compulsory Military Training.
That Australia may not develop as a military nation, that the boys of our country may be trained in principles of love and peace, not of fear and suspicion, and that the rights of conscience may be held to be the most precious possession of every citizen. That women may lead in the way of peace; though, should war come, they may be trusted to do their share in defending their country as women have always done.
Proportional Representation.
That Parliament may fairly reflect the opinions of the electors.
Protection of Clerks.
That clerks, men and women, may be enabled to secure the protection of the Arbitration Court.
Preference to Unionists.
That the law may give to working men and women, as sellers of labour, the same protection that custom, wealth and influence now give to employers, as buyers of labour.
Authorised by CECILIA JOHN, Hon. Sec. and Treas.
MARJORIE CLAVIN and DORIS KERR Assistant Hon. Secs.Women’s Political Association.
229 Collins Street.
Kooyong Headquarters.
144 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn