Gender-based violence and women’s safety
The Government says it will focus on increasing national coordination and funding of frontline services. Measures include:
- $3.9bn to enhance access to legal services, including for people experiencing gender-based violence;
- $21.8m to continue to provide family, domestic and sexual violence services to First Nations women, children and communities;
- $364.5m to provide general supports for people with disability and their families, carers and kin.
Katy Gallagher told our room, “Obviously women’s safety is an area where we’re not seeing the impact we want to see.”
Reproductive health and abortion
The budget contains the $792.9m women’s health package – but this had already been announced last month. Most measures in the women’s health space seem to have already been shared (and we’ve already reported on).
These include:
- 150% larger Medicare rebates and more bulk billing for the insertion and removal of long-acting reversible contraceptives, and enables these services to be delivered by nurse practitioners;
- First PBS listing for new menopausal hormone therapies in over 20 years, with around 150,000 women expected to save hundreds of dollars a year;
Reproductive health and abortion (cont)
- The listings of Yaz and Yasmin from 1 March 2025 represent the first PBS listings for new oral contraceptive pills in over 30 years, while the listing of Slinda from 1 May 2025 (but this was already announced);
- Funding will help deliver 11 new endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics; and
- The listing of a new endo treatment on the PBS – around 8,500 Australian women are expected to benefit from this listing each year.
Non-compete clauses
The Government will move to ban non-compete clauses for low- and middle-income employees, which the Government says is expected to boost wages as these workers are freed to move to more productive, higher-paying jobs.
One in five workers are subject to non-compete clauses that restrict their ability to move to a new job and are significantly suppressing wages.
The Treasurer used the example of “yoga teachers and hairdressers” as people who will benefit from this new measure.
Tax cuts
The Government announced that it will deliver additional tax cuts in 2026 and 2027.
From 1 July 2026, the 16 per cent tax rate, which applies to taxable income between $18,201 and $45,000, will be reduced to 15 per cent. From 1 July 2027, this tax rate will be reduced further to 14 per cent.
This means that a worker on average earnings will get a new tax cut of $268 in 2026-27 and $536 per year from 2027-28, compared to 2024-25 tax settings.
Economic equality and security
The Government will cut student debts by 20% with effect before indexation is applied on 1 June 2025, and says that this measure will wipe $16 billion from outstanding student loans;
The Government is also committing $1.8 billion to extend energy bill relief for six months to December 2025. The Government says that this relief particularly benefits women, who are over-represented in low-income households.
Our takeaways:
Phoebe: It’s an OK budget. I was slightly disappointed that there weren’t really any new commitments for women’s health – the Government seems to mainly be relying on the announcement made in February. It would’ve also been great to have seen more measures dedicated to funding abortion and ensuring equity across the country. New investments around women’s sport would’ve also been really great to see.
Alicia: Mixed feelings from me. While previously announced, cheaper medicines for women and more bulk billing services are great to see. But, there wasn’t a specific mention of measures supporting mental health.
Top photo source: AAP
