Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to 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 stand here alongside a majority female caucus—the largest female representation in any government in Australian history—led by Australia's first gender-equal cabinet. We are a government who wants to give women choice and opportunity, safety and security and financial independence. It's not something we just talk about. It's something we act on, and our federal budget is testament to that.

I represent a young community in Melbourne's western suburbs, with more than 50,000 working families that have chosen our community to build their futures in the outer west. Making real change for working families in the outer suburbs means investing in Aussie women, with cheaper child care, expanded paid parental leave, more contraceptives and menopause treatment on the PBS and an instant $1,000 tax deduction, where women are expected to make up 54 per cent of the beneficiaries.

But that's not all we're doing, with the opening of endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, including the one in Werribee and the opening of urgent care clinics, including in Melton and Sunshine, and making these permanent. These are initiatives Aussie women get when you elect a Labor government who understands the needs of an Australian community.