Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand here proudly as the member for Lalor, sent here by my community to represent them—all of them. I stand here as a proud member of the Labor government, the Labor Party and the labour movement. It's a movement that is dedicated to equality and fairness, a movement that wants to see equity for all Australians, and gender equity is at the core of that.

I know, from my years as a teacher, from my years as a principal and from my years of playing sport, that we measure the things that will help us get better, the things that we think are important, and that's why the Women's Budget Statement is so important and the bedrock of a Labor federal government. We know that, if we don't measure the road to gender equity, we'll fall off the road to gender equity. I know, when I coach under-16s playing netball, that I need to set targets around the number of intercepts I want to see from the goal defence and the shooting accuracy I want to see from the goal shooter. I know that in my classroom I need to say to a student: 'You're capable of an A+ on this exam, and together we're going to get an A+ on this exam.' If you don't set targets, you don't reach them.

I stand here proudly, as a woman in the federal Labor government, to say that this tradition of setting targets and working hard to meet them delivers a budget with gender equity at its core. At the core of the five budget's handed down by the Albanese Labor government, Australian women have been a clear focus. In this budget, our fifth budget, and our fifth Women's Budget Statement, we've reported the significant progress made towards gender equality since we came to government in 2022.

It is essential that we invest in women and that we get it right. In a community like mine, with the highest number of nought- to four-year-olds in the country, there are lots and lots of young families, young couples starting out together, understanding that they're in an equal relationship—sharing responsibility for parenting, sharing responsibility for financial security, sharing responsibility for making that mortgage payment or saving for that deposit. These are all really important things in my community. What's also really important in my community is that, when women have economic security, they can make real choices for themselves and their children, alone or with a partner. They are free to do both. They are in relationships not because they need them but because they want to be there. That is critical in a journey to gender equity.

Women are earning $291.60 more per week on average than they were in 2022. This is because of the measures put in place by this government. More than one million families have benefited from our investments in cheaper child care. Earning more and keeping more of what you earn is a bedrock of this government, and we've worked hard to get there. We've expanded paid parental leave, meaning eligible families will be $14,000 better off than they would have been in May 2022. Important and critical superannuation reforms are working to improve retirement outcomes for women and close the retirement income gap, something we also need to set some targets around.

Our continued commitment to reducing the cost of medicines has saved women over $647 million on medicines and provided them with increased PBS access to contraceptives and menopause therapies. Who could believe that it has been 30 years since a new contraceptive was put on the PBS, and 20 years since a new hormonal menopausal therapy was put on the PBS? This is the work of the Labor government.

We've provided 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave. Again, why? Because we measure the things we care about. We know that economic arguments often carry the day in this place. So let's start measuring the economic impact of domestic violence and have that as part of the arsenal in the conversations to reduce domestic violence. Eligibility has expanded for the parenting payment single, increasing Commonwealth rent assistance by over 50 per cent and ending ParentsNext. And Australia is now ranked 13th internationally for gender equality. It is our highest ever ranking. We are setting Australian women up for success, which in turn sets up Australian families for success and sets up our children for success.

The 2026-27 budget has built on this progress and made our investments larger than ever. We're making lasting change for generations to come. The $250 working Australians tax offset will benefit 6.3 million working women from the 2027-28 income year; around 6.2 million women will benefit from changes allowing Australian workers to claim an instant tax deduction of up to $1,000 for work related expenses; 182.6 million will deliver significant changes to the child support system; and, since 2022, $4.4 billion has been invested in the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children.

This budget includes further investments of $218 million to support 'Our ways—Strong ways—Our voices', the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander plan to end family, domestic and sexual violence 2026-36; $61 million for the 500 workers initiative supporting the frontline family, domestic and sexual violence workforce; and $11.7 million to continue the Family Violence and Cross-Examination of Parties Scheme, which provides legal supp for family law matters involving family, domestic and sexual violence.

I've often spoken about the endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics around the country and particularly about the one in the heart of my electorate in Werribee, which is on the same site as the Medicare urgent care clinic. This is great for families, great for women, and mostly sees children at the busiest times on the weekend, post sport. This budget has also delivered a joint investment of $4 billion with states and territories to establish Thriving Kids. A $2 billion investment will provide Medicare Healthy Kids Check—a health assessment subsidised by Medicare to ensure the health and development of children aged three, referring them to appropriate support if required. This is critical for families, critical for mums and critical for children.

Improved practice around early childhood development and culturally appropriate support through national workforce measures is also supported, and there's more support for children with autism and their families. We're also growing the National Immunisation Program in pharmacies in a push to increase childhood vaccination rates. I know parents in my electorate will welcome these investments because they provide reassurance that every family deserves. Obviously, this budget locks in Medicare urgent care clinics permanently. This is an absolutely incredible thing for a community like mine. We've also improved bulk-billing rates, with 82 per cent of GP clinics in Lalor now bulk-billing.

We're levelling the playing field by reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax, making it easier for Australians to buy their first home. This sort of stability is life-changing, as the over 5,000 people in my electorate who've already secured a home with the five per cent deposit scheme are testament to. And there are single parents who are doing so in a two per cent deposit scheme. This is really going to make a difference in communities like mine.

Where to next? Where does Labor look next on this road to gender equity? Efforts on the gender pay gap are important, and they've seen us gaining ground on that equality target. The pay gap is the easiest to measure. Superannuation is another target we need, as is an income gap and an asset gap, because income, as many of us found out in this budget, is not just what you earn in your job but what you earn from your assets. What's the target there? Can we measure those things into the future to make a real difference on our road to equality? As I said before, we measure what we care about. While the road to economic equity may be long, we've shown that smart targets and targeted measures work, having women in the cabinet room works, having women in the caucus works and having women in parliament works.

To the women in my electorate, to those with children, to those without children, to women over 65, to those struggling to put food on the table, to those doing as much as they can—catching early trains to work, getting on a train at 6 am, getting off a train at 6 pm, picking up the kids from child care before you go home with your partner, perhaps, to cook dinner and get ready for the next day—to all of you: this government has your back.

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