Last night Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down his third budget, which delivers a $9.3 billion surplus. When it comes to women, the government has put forward a raft of measures to make “women’s lives safer, fairer and more equal” by investing in women’s safety, economic security and health.
Women’s health
Boosting research and data on women’s health
The Government is allocating $53.6 million to research into health priorities including menopause, pregnancy loss and infertility.
The Government will also provide $8 million to support the development of datasets on miscarriages, sexual and reproductive health, as well as evaluation activities for early pregnancy assessment services.
Endometriosis
As previously announced, the Government will allocate $49.1 million over four years for longer gynaecology consultations. From 1 July 2025, the addition of two new MBS items will allow patients with suspected endometriosis and pelvic pain to access subsidised consultations of 45 minutes or longer with gynaecologists.
Menopause
The Government will provide $1.2 million over two years to support training for health practitioners to better treat, care and manage women’s health during menopause.
Contraception
The Government will provide $5.2 million to support placement costs for health practitioners, including regional and remote practitioners, to undertake training in Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) insertion and removal.
The Government has also allocated $1.1 million to support the development of a virtual contraception decision-making tool for women and health practitioners.
Access to period products
The Government will provide $12.5 million to the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation to facilitate community-led, culturally appropriate distribution of free period products to rural and remote First Nations communities.
From 1 July 2024, the Government will abolish 457 nuisance tariffs, including on types of menstrual cups, menstrual underwear, and other goods.
Midwives
The Government will commit $56.5 million to promote high-quality and tailored maternity care, by implementing recommendations from the MBS Review Taskforce for participating midwives.
Support for women experiencing miscarriage
The Government is providing $7 million to support the development of miscarriage education and provide funding for bereavement care services for families experiencing miscarriage.
Addressing violence in higher education
Under the Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education, the Government has committed to $18.7 million over four years from 2024–25 to develop and introduce a National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence.
The National Code will set requirements for higher education providers to embed a whole-of-organisation approach and strengthen accountability for systemic issues relating to gender-based violence.
Complementing this work, the Government has committed $19.4 million over two years from 2024–25 to establish an independent National Student Ombudsman.
The Fathering Project
The Government will provide $4.8 million over two years from 2024–25 for the Fathering Project to continue to provide targeted parenting support for fathers, building their confidence to be primary or equal caregivers.
It will also provide $4.6 million over two years from 2024–25 for the Raising Children Network. The Raising Children’s Network provides web-based parenting information. Funding will further build parenting skills, knowledge and improve equitable access to information for all parents and caregivers.
Age assurance pilot
The Government will provide $6.5 million in 2024–25 to develop a pilot of age assurance technologies to protect children from harmful online content, like pornography and other age-restricted online services.
This pilot is part of a suite of interventions aimed at curbing easy access to material known to cause harm to children and young people, and tackling extreme misogyny online. The pilot will help identify available age assurance products to protect children from online harm, and test their efficacy, including in relation to privacy and security.
Building Women’s Careers program
The Government will invest $55.6 million over four years, commencing in 2024–25, in the Building Women’s Careers program which will drive structural and systemic change in training and work environments. The program will fund large-scale projects and smaller, place-based partnerships to improve women’s access to flexible, safe and inclusive training and work opportunities in key male-dominated industries.
In response to the Pathway to Diversity in STEM Review, the Government is providing $38.2 million over eight years from 2023–24 (and $1.3 million ongoing) to support a thriving, skilled and diverse STEM workforce.
Empowering migrant and refugee women
The Government will provide $15.0 million over three years from 2024–25 for information and education activities to provide migrant workers with accurate and appropriate information about workplace safeguards, protections and compliance measures related to migration laws. This will empower migrant women, who are over-represented in insecure work, to report allegations of worker exploitation without fear of reprisals.
The Government will also provide $3.8 million over four years from 2024–25 to continue conversational English classes in Community Hubs.
Paying Superannuation on Government-funded Paid Parental Leave
The Government is providing $1.1 billion over four years from 2024–25 and $0.6 billion per year from 2028–29 to pay superannuation on Government-funded Paid Parental Leave (PPL) for births or adoptions on or after 1 July 2025.
Paying an annual superannuation payment of 12 per cent on the full partnered entitlement of 22 weeks will increase a median earning mother’s superannuation balance at retirement by around $4,250 or 1.15 per cent.