Minister for Finance, Minister for Women, Minister for the Public Service
SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR WOMEN: Thank you very much, Chair. It’s a privilege to be here representing Australia and representing the first majority-woman Federal Government in Australia’s history. Gender equality is a core economic priority for the Australian Government, with women’s economic equality a key focus. To drive this effort the Australian Government has developed our first national strategy to achieve gender equality, which was launched on the eve of International Women’s Day. Our strategy is called Working for Women, because when our government systems, our economy and our society work for women, they work for everyone.
The strategy was informed by thousands of women’s voices, extensive data and advice provided from expert independent groups. The strategy focused on five priority areas where change is needed for gender equality to be achieved: ending gender-based violence; valuing and sharing unpaid and paid care; ensuring women’s economic equality and security; advancing women’s health; and ensuring women’s leadership, representation and decision making. The strategy is built upon a foundation commitment to challenge the harmful gender attitudes and stereotypes that limit how people behave and how people are treated.
These priorities are, of course, interconnected. Women cannot participate equally in the economy when they disproportionately shoulder the responsibility of care and domestic labour. And women cannot be equal if they are not safe. Violence impacts women’s economic security, their participation in the workforce, their opportunities for progression, their lifetime earnings and their security in retirement. All conspiring to put women at greater risk of financial hardship and poverty.
The Australian Government recognises these complexities, and we’ve made it a priority to confront them, including through deeper structural reform. Our strategy builds on significant investments in gender equality over the last 18 months. We’ve expanded the government’s paid parental leave to reach 26 weeks by 2026, with reserved leave for each parent. And starting next year, we will pay superannuation on the government’s scheme to help reduce the impact of unpaid care on retirement savings. We’ve made child care cheaper and funded pay rises for our majority-women aged care workforce. And from February this year, we began to publish the gender pay gaps of employers with 100 or more staff.
We have reformed Australia’s workplace relations system to make gender equality a specific focus. We’ve banned pay secrecy and introduced a workplace duty to protect employees from third-party violence and sexual harassment. We’ve also legislated ten days paid family and domestic violence leave, because no one should have to choose between their own safety or their job. We’ve expanded eligibility for single parenting payments and lifted a range of social protection payments where women are the majority of recipients. We’ve invested a record amount of funding in women’s safety, including providing much-needed financial support for individuals leaving violent relationships. We are also strengthening government institutions to better deliver for gender equality, including introducing gender-responsive budgeting to consider gender impacts on every Budget decision, including employment targets for women in major government infrastructure projects, and requiring all government departments to publicly report on their contribution to implementing the Working for Women strategy.
The Australian Government understands that shifting the dial on gender equality requires action and commitment across every policy area, and this includes internationally. Australia is prioritising gender equality in our foreign policy, international development, humanitarian, trade and security efforts. Our new international gender equality strategy will be released shortly. We’ve reintroduced a target for 80 per cent of all development spending to contribute to addressing gender equality, and all new significant development investments are also now required to have a gender equality objective regardless of the nature of the investment. Like our domestic efforts, our international focus is on how safety and economic equality intertwine.
Australia is committed to working with all of our partners and friends across the world to make a real and positive difference in the lives of all women and girls.
