Hi, I’m Kat Theophanous - the Labor Member of Parliament for Northcote in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
Hi, I’m Kat Theophanous - the Labor Member of Parliament for Northcote in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
I was proud to work with Fiona to deliver Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence, secure unprecedented funding for family violence services, and promote social and economic equality for women through Victoria’s first Gender Equality Strategy.
Out of the 227 recommendations made, I am thrilled to say that as of 2023, the Victorian Labor Government has implemented every single one.
This work of implementing the royal commission recommendations was part of my role as Co-Chair of the State Government’s Gender Equality Advisory Committee.
In February 2021 I was honored to be named Co Chair of the Gender Equality Advisory Committee. The committee will draw on the experiences of women from across the local government sector and advise on how to deliver the Government’s target of 50 per cent female mayors and councillors by 2025, as well as the implementation of the Australian-first Gender Equality Act across local government.
We’ll be providing advice directly to the Minister for Women Gabrielle Williams MP and the Minister for Local Government Shaun Leane MP on how to progress our statewide work on gender equality in the context of local government.
Before becoming an MP, I worked extensively on gender equality policy to underscore the benefits – both economic and social – that can be gained when we drive equality in our workforces and in our workplaces. Whilst working for Fiona Richardson, I had the privileged of working on the first strategy book, Safe and Strong 2016: Victoria's Gender Equality Strategy and I can’t wait for later this year when we will be delivering an updated Gender Equality Strategy.
I’m honoured to be able to continue this work as Co-Chair of this committee, and to build on our Government’s legacy of reform in the historic Gender Equality Act.
The Victorian Honour Roll of Women celebrates the outstanding contributions made by women from all walks of life and acknowledges the many ways in which they have made a lasting impact to our state.
Each year, the Victorian Honour Roll of Women recognises women who have demonstrated remarkable leadership and excellence in their field of expertise, interest, endeavor, or through their commitment to the community.
In 2021 I was co-chair of the Victorian Honour Roll of Women Assessment Panel. Over the five week period I had the pleasure of assessing nominations and making recommendations.
In 2022 I hosted my second International Women Day Competition. The IWD competition acknowledges the achievements of local women leaders living and working in the Northcote Electorate.
The winners were announced at a special morning tea, with the Victorian Minister for Women, Hon. Gabrielle Williams MP.
I was proud to speak on the Gender equality bill 2019.
We should not need a gender equality bill, but we do. We still see entrenched structural, social and economic disadvantage for women. We still see workplace discrimination, huge disparities in unpaid care responsibilities, blatant sexism across the public domain and low representation of women in positions of power and although we have a long way to go this was a step forward.
I had the opportunity to work alongside the former and formidable member for Northcote, Fiona Richardson, in her role as Australia’s first Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence. It was during this time that the Andrews government delivered the Royal Commission into Family Violence and invested an unprecedented $2.6 billion in the sector to forever transform how we approach this scourge—more than the commonwealth and more than any other state or territory.