Cirrus@Austlit

'In the official history of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), there is only one mention of the women’s liberation movement, amongst a collection of other social movements that emerged in Australia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, alongside the anti-Vietnam War and Aboriginal rights movements. However, we know from files released by the National Archives of Australia that ASIO heavily monitored the women’s liberation movement in Australia, just as it did with most social and protest movements that existed at the time. Concerned about the crossover between the women’s liberation movement and other protest movements, ASIO were particularly worried about the entry of the various far left groups, such as Communists, Trotskyists and Maoists, into the women’s liberation movement, even though these groups were very much divided about the issue of women’s rights during this period. This article examines the ASIO files on the Australian women’s liberation movement and the anxiety that the authorities felt about the ‘threat’ of the personal becoming too politicised.' (Publication abstract)

'When Gough Whitlam appointed Elizabeth Reid in 1973, she was the first Women’s Adviser to a head of government anywhere. But the idea took off quickly across Australia. Between 1976 and 1986 all seven Australian states and territories appointed women’s advisers. In South Australia, in April 1976 the influential, reforming ALP Premier Don Dunstan appointed Deborah McCulloch as his Women’s Adviser; the third appointed at the state level following Victoria and Tasmania. This article draws on oral history interviews with McCulloch to assess what being South Australia’s first Women’s Adviser meant; and what both McCulloch and Dunstan considered her (and his) major achievements. It also looks briefly at several key women in Dunstan’s life who influenced his views. If Dunstan was slow to prioritize women’s rights, in some areas, such as the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act, SA led the way and the Commonwealth followed in 1984. Dunstan came to see women’s rights as ‘the challenge of social democracy,’ whereas McCulloch took great satisfaction in improving women’s lives. McCulloch went beyond her brief to focus on the public service, to provide innovative social services to all women. We can see too the significance of networking amongst femocrats, particularly among women’s advisers.' (Introduction)