The Margaret River Advisory Council to the Commissioner for Children and Young People met on Thursday the 1st of September to celebrate the announcement by Women’s Interests Minister Simone McGurk. The WA government’s commitment comes after a sweeping movement across Australian public schools to ease what is known as ‘period poverty’, where women and girls cannot afford sanitary products. The students identified this issue as a pressing need in response to the 2021 Speaking Out survey results, where girls, in particular, indicated poorer well-being in our school system.
The Commissioner, Jacqueline McGowan-Jones, and Lorilee Gale, Senior Policy Officer, discussed the new policy with the student leaders. They then investigated how this policy worked in other states and countries and made some suggestions for how the Department of Education could roll out the program in the first term of next year.
The committee will meet one more time before travelling to Perth for an afternoon tea with the Governor of Western Australia. The students want to thank the Commissioner, Lorilee and Jane Kelsbie for their support and open ear.
