Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand here today on the backs of Aussie women who have worked hard for the rights and opportunities that I and all Australian women are afforded today. I'm really proud to follow my friend, the member for Lalor, a wonderful representative for women in Melbourne's western suburbs. I stand here alongside a majority female Labor caucus—the largest female representation in any government in Australian history. We are led by Australia's first gender-equal cabinet. We are a government that wants to give women choice and opportunity, safety and security and financial independence.

It's not just something we talk about; it's something we act on. Back in the eighties, Labor introduced the world's first Women's Budget Statement. The Libs cut it, and in 2022 the Albanese Labor government brought it back. With our Women's Budget Statement, we continue to carve out change for Australian women by making sure to evaluate the impacts the budget measures will have on Aussie women and reporting on significant progress towards gender equality since 2022. The Women's Budget Statement is an essential part of ensuring gender equality is at the core of our economic agenda. Let me tell you a little bit about the impacts our budget will have on Aussie women. At the heart of our Labor government is greater opportunity for women by investing in women's health outcomes, closing the gender pay gap and delivering cost-of-living relief.

When it comes to women's health, for too long not enough has been known about women's pain and conditions like endometriosis, and not enough has been done. We're changing that. Thanks to this Labor government, more than 380,000 women have accessed new, cheaper contraceptives in their first year on the PBS. More than 430,000 women have accessed new menopausal therapies. We have opened 33 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics right across the country, including in Melbourne's western suburbs, in Werribee. And 100,000 people have received a new menopause and perimenopause health assessment. It's all part of this Labor government's health package, including the opening of urgent care clinics in my community in Sunshine and Melton. With this budget we are making our urgent care clinics permanent. It's because we know that women's health care matters.

In my electorate, the suburbs of Rockbank, Aintree and Truganina have the second-highest birth rate in greater Melbourne. That means we're a young community, a community full of families and a growing community as well. When babies come along into a family's life, women take breaks from work. Historically, women have taken on the burden of unpaid care. About 68 per cent of primary carers are women, taking long career breaks to take on the unpaid household labour, and it means women earn less. It means women face more obstacles towards career progression and a loss of future earning potential, and it means women retire with less super. The gender super gap is about $50,000 for Australians nearing retirement, and my electorate of Gordon is amongst the highest Victorian electorates for unpaid super. For Aussie women, this just isn't good enough, and it's why we're expanding paid parental leave to 26 weeks from July this year, and it's why we've introduced superannuation to paid parental leave.

Thanks to the work of this Labor government, the gender pay gap is sitting at a historic low at 11.5 per cent. We've also expanded eligibility of the three-day guarantee, giving families access to three days a week of subsidised early childhood education and care. This is about relieving women of the primary care burden and giving women that opportunity to return to work. We've already seen more than one million families benefit from cheaper childcare investments. Let me be clear: these changes are positive for the entire household, because, when both parents have access to paid parental leave, it gives the entire family that freedom of choice and opportunity. In the long term, facilitating women in sharing the care burden and returning to work increases overall household earnings.

Everyone has a young family in their life who will benefit from this. For me, it's my sister, my sister-in-law and my cousin Hayley from Taylors Hill. Across my community in Melbourne's western suburbs, it's the hundreds of families who are experiencing these changes. It's no coincidence that Australia's first ever gender-equal cabinet has made big steps in confronting the cost-of-living barriers that women face, because, when women are at the table making the decisions, we get better outcomes for women.

As well as the unpaid care roles, women also take on a significant amount of the paid care sector, like childcare and aged-care workers, which is why we've introduced pay rises for early childhood and aged-care workers, stronger minimum wage and award wage settings and important workplace reforms, and it's working. Women are now earning, on average, $290 more a week than in 2022. With an instant $1,000 tax deduction, women are expected to make up 54 per cent of the beneficiaries.

Women's safety remains a priority in ending violence against women. To date, the government has invested over $4.4 billion under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022 to 2032. Under the national plan, more than 10,000 victims-survivors have been provided with financial and other supports through the Leaving Violence Program in its first five months of operation. 496 additional frontline staff supporting victims-survivors have been employed across Australia, and $985.7 million in funding has been provided to states and territories to support frontline service delivery. There is no simple solution, but we need to better support women and children who have experienced violence so they can recover. It's about working to prevent and address sexual violence and about activating more systems and more services to intervene at the earliest opportunity to disrupt violence and strengthen safety. The second action plan is guiding a coordinated whole-of-system response across governments, communities, employers, schools, health and justice systems, as well as frontline and prevention services, to identify high-impact solutions to prevent and end violence and hold perpetrators to account, because it takes a whole-of-system approach.

We are also investing $182.6 million to deliver the most significant changes to the child support system in nearly 20 years. These changes include historic reforms which will work to reduce the weaponisation of the child support system and protect women and children from financial abuse. Reforms will also help parents navigate the system, improve the accuracy and timeliness of support payments, and crack down on those avoiding their child support obligations.

Our government remains committed to making gender equality a core economic priority. Through significant structural reforms and sustained investments since 2022, the government has strengthened the foundations for lasting change. When everyone feels safe and valued and is able to participate fully in our economy and our society, Australia is stronger, more productive and more resilient. Everyone stands to benefit from reforms that create fairer systems, structures and attitudes. When women are involved in decision-making and policy design, outcomes are better for everyone. I am proud that we are seeing significant structural reforms, and I am proud that we have been putting in sustained investments since 2022—better for men, better for women and better for Australia.

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