PM Transcripts

Press Statement No. 508
4 June 1975
NEWCASTLE WOMEN'S CENTRE
The Australian Government is negotiating the purchase
of Lysaght's Recreation Centre in Newcastle for use as a community
centre for the women of the Newcastle area.
The Prime Minister said the project had been submitted
by the Hunter Region Working Women's Group. It would be
funded through grants from the Hospital and Health Services
Commission_($ 25,000) the interim committee of the Children's
Commission ($ 42,000) and ' the.* International Women's Year
Committee 41, 2 20). These grants would cover the cost of
the building and essential renovations.
The new centre will enable the Hunter Region Wo-cking
Women's Group to expand. its activities on behalf of women living
and working in Newcastle and surrounding districts. The area
includes many migrant women.
At present the group is using temporary premises in
Newcastle to conduct a women's health centre, through a grant
from the Hospitals and Health Services Commission. The
Attorney-General has agreed to second an officer through the.
Australian Legal Aid Office-to provide legal advice for women
using the centre. It is planned to develop more general
couns-elling and information services for women in the work force,
so as to involve them more in helping to improve their own working
conditions. Since migrant women tend to be exploited in the
work situation, it is hoped to appoint multi-lingual staff to
the centre who can provide both English classes and special
counselling for women unsure of their rights in their jobs and
in the community at large.
Special child care facilities will be provided by the
centre and an officer appointed to help initiate other childhood
services in the Newcastle community. At the same time,
recreational programs will cater for a wide variety of known
interests, and further research will be undertaken to establish
the educational and recreational needs of women in the area.
It is hoped that centres similar to the Newcastle
working women's centre will be established throughout Australia.
CADIBERRL. A. C. T.