Radio interview with Nova 919 Adelaide

Jodie Oddy, host: Well, Hayesy, you know, I love myself a good politician. Am I right?

Andrew Hayes, host: Yes, you do.

Oddy: And one of the best in the business is Senator Penny Wong, and she is joining us ahead of International Women's Day tomorrow. Good morning, Penny, and I'm really, really sorry that you had to listen while you were on hold to our fight about battle of the bangers. And…

Foreign Minister: Well, I learned a lot, mate. I did!

Oddy: Will you vote for me next week? For my song?

Foreign Minister: I'll try and remember, I'll try and remember to do that.

Hayes: I dare say, if Penny votes, it's probably worth two or three, isn't it?

Oddy: Yes, yes, very true.

Foreign Minister: Oh, I don’t know about that.

Oddy: Penny, you've just come off an International Women's Day breakfast – 3000 people – what an event.

Foreign Minister: Oh, look, it's amazing. You know, I feel so, so proud of Adelaide every time I host this event. We sell out within minutes. Three thousand people come to this event. It's the largest International Women’s Day breakfast in Australia. So, it just tells you something about how Adelaide comes together. We're very good at remembering events and anniversaries. And I'm so grateful we get so many women and men, and particularly so many school kids. It's just wonderful.

Oddy: And Penny, I sit back and watch in your industry, and we've had a really historic moment in Adelaide radio this morning where we got all four breakfast hosts from all the, what are normally competing stations on together, in a show of unification? What is it like amongst the female politicians in Canberra? Is that, is there a sense of unity and that we've got to support each other, or are there bitter feuds going on everywhere?

Foreign Minister: Probably a bit of both, I think, like most things. Certainly, you know within, I can say within our government, and within the Labor Party, we've got 51% women now. We're the first majority woman government in Australia's history. And it's a pretty extraordinary experience to be part of. I've been around a while, got a lot greyer over many years, as you know. But the difference now in our caucus where we've got 51% women, not just the focus on women's issues, things like putting new contraceptives on the PBS for the first time in 30 years, but more generally, on so many issues and it's a really good sense of camaraderie. So, I'm very privileged to be part of it.

Oddy: International relations are high on your agenda. Do you still encounter misogyny from blokes across the globe? Or have you seen an improvement in that space?

Foreign Minister: Look, I think you know, I always say to people, progress is not linear. Do you know what I mean? So you often it's sort of whether it's in your personal life, or it's in your work life. You know, it's often three steps forward, one or two steps back. But the thing is, you've got to, we've all got to keep working. You know, one of the things I spoke about today is, you've got to work hard for change, and you have to work hard to make sure change isn't unwound. And you know that should be our approach in politics and in life, and when it comes to equality.

Oddy: I'm going to take that as a yes then…

Foreign Minister: And winning, winning, next week, there you go.

Oddy: Absolutely. Alright, Penny, I look forward to you voting for my battle of the banger song.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the eve of International Women's Day. I know how busy you are. So, we really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Foreign Minister: I really appreciate it. Thanks for having me, cheers.