Speeches
Friday, 12 June 2026
Luncheon for Women Leaders by the Circle Regional Tour
I warmly welcome you to Government House, the oldest Government House in Australia, and to the opening event of your program.
It’s great to see Women Leaders by the Circle bring its first tour to South Australia, where you will experience the best of what our state has to offer.
I am pleased to see how Women Leaders by the Circle, over the past six years, has built a trusted community of more than 450 senior women leaders, creating space for women to come together, share their experiences, and learn from their peers.
I’m proud to say that South Australia has, historically, been a leader in the advancement of women.
We were the first Australian jurisdiction where women could vote and one of the first places in the world to allow women to stand for Parliament.
We also passed the first sex discrimination laws in Australia.
Gender equality is a priority of mine as Governor, and I am pleased to support initiatives, like this tour, which enable women to grow as leaders both professionally and personally.
Today, South Australia is proud to play a significant role in driving the development and transformation of our nation’s economy.
With just over 7 per cent of Australia's population, South Australia has a long tradition of making a national and global contribution far beyond its size.
The fact that four of the last eight Australians of the Year have been South Australians speaks to that.
Across defence and sovereign capability, space, energy transition, education and innovation, we are helping to reshape what is possible for our nation.
I am heartened by the breadth of engagements in your program for the coming week — from Lot Fourteen, our innovation and space precinct, to the Osborne Naval Shipyard, from Adelaide University to BHP and Santos — each a window into a state forging new opportunities and deepening its contribution to Australia’s future.
You’re also going to meet some outstanding South Australian women, including Diane Dixon, State Lead for Lot 14, and Aunty Angelena Harradine-Buckskin, a Ngadjuri woman who will lead you on a cultural immersion and bushwalk – both of whom are here today.
I have learned a great deal from Aunty Angelena and fellow First Nations women from spending time with them on country in the Clare Valley.
Tomorrow there is lunch with culinary icon and healthy ageing advocate, Maggie Beer, and next week, engagements with Australian of the Year, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, and Vice Chancellor of the ambitious new Adelaide University, Professor Nicola Phillips.
While Katherine and Nicola are not South Australian by birth, they were attracted here by the opportunities and lifestyle on offer, and we have warmly adopted them as our own.
I trust this tour will bring you the insight that comes from stepping outside your own sector, the connections that come from being in new spaces, as well as the compounding effect of learning that reaches across business, government, academia and community.
As a diplomat and now as Governor, I found again and again that some of our best ideas, and our most enduring partnerships, are developed through actively listening to people whose experience and perspective differs from our own.
I am deeply encouraged by the growing recognition that diverse leadership perspectives are not simply desirable, but vital — that increasing women’s representation in senior leadership and decision-making roles strengthens the organisations and communities we are all here to serve.
I wish you every success for an enjoyable, productive and genuinely memorable week in South Australia.
I hope that you will carry something of this state with you when you leave – not only some Barossa Valley wines and Haigh’s Chocolates, but ideas, inspiration, new professional contacts, and potentially even friends.
Leadership is about connection, and I can think of no better place to deepen those connections than here, in a state that is itself defined by its unwavering pursuit of what is possible.