About us
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The Elizabeth Reid Network was launched in 2016 as a network for current and former women staffers within the Australian Labor Party. We offer scholarships, host events and conduct research with the aim of supporting women staffers and encouraging their participation in the political process.
Stay connected with us by joining the Facebook Group.
Connect, Develop, Lead
ERN began with a simple idea: to create a space where women who have worked, or are working, for the Australian Labor Party could connect, share experiences and support one another. After conversations with senior female staff including the late Bridget Whelan we recognised the need for a formal network to help recruit, mentor and guide women working in Labor politics.
Since then, ERN has offered scholarships, hosted events and undertaken research to strengthen the pipeline of women staffers and support their participation in political life.
Looking ahead, ERN remains focused on growth, connection and ensuring women’s voices are heard and valued in politics. We take inspiration from Elizabeth Reid’s legacy — a trailblazer whose appointment in 1973 forged a path for generations of women to play a central role in the Australian Labor Party and public life.
From the outset, ERN has included former as well as current staffers. Their experience and networks have been essential in helping women enter political roles, navigate staffer life and move confidently into careers beyond politics. Former staffers also demonstrate the value of staffer skills from policy and strategy to stakeholder engagement and show the breadth of opportunities that can follow. ERN members encounter former staffers across Australia and around the world, many of whom are keen to provide support.
We have been fortunate to receive support from leaders across the Australian Labor Party at both State and Federal levels. Their engagement reinforces ERN’s mission: to strengthen the pipeline of women staffers, deepen professional connections and ensure women’s contributions are visible and valued.
About Elizabeth Reid
In 1973 Elizabeth was appointed by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam as the world’s first Adviser on Women’s Affairs.
Reid was Whitlam’s key adviser when he made groundbreaking reforms, including extending the minimum wage, introducing paid maternity leave in the public service, establishing a single mother’s benefit, funding community childcare, ensuring accessible contraception, increasing access to no-fault divorce, and funding refuges and women’s health centres around the country.
Before becoming a staffer, Elizabeth was a feminist academic, a community organiser and a key figure in the emerging women’s liberation movement.
At a time when women’s issues were rarely considered “serious policy,” Elizabeth brought the voices and experiences of women directly into the heart of government. She helped establish the foundations of modern gender equality policy in Australia.
Find out more about our “patron saint” Elizabeth Reid
ABC News
“Ms Reid says nowadays "people would be appalled" by her treatment, but many of her struggles ring true to modern-day women forging ahead in their own industries.”
The Eleventh Podcast
Part 4 The Adviser - “Young feminist Elizabeth Reid gets a job advising Gough Whitlam on women's issues. As this idealistic new recruit tries to work within the system to change it, she gets caught smack in the middle of an epic struggle between the nation's most powerful men.”
Brazen Hussies
which traces the rise of the women’s liberation movement in Australia and includes great footage of Elizabeth.