Last month I was lucky enough to participate in a recording for Em Rusciano’s new perimenopause podcast, Rage Against the Vagine. In a chat that covered everything from how we make sure women’s health is being spoken about at schools to how we make workplaces more responsive to women’s health needs, something Em shared has really stuck with me: that when women feel heard, they feel hopeful.
And we’ve certainly come a long way over the past three years in making women feel heard when it comes to the government taking women’s health seriously. When the government launched Australia’s first ever gender equality strategy Working for Women back in March 2024, we made women’s health one of five key priorities because we know that women’s health can’t be separated from women’s equality. If women aren’t healthy, they can’t fully participate in work, family or community life.
Working for Women picked up on Assistant Minister Ged Kearney’s excellent work to bring women’s health into the open and call out the impacts of sidelining women in our health system. Since then, I’ve heard from women across the country who said they felt seen and taken seriously. That matters. For too long, women’s health has been overlooked or treated as a side issue. Now, we’re putting it at the centre of our agenda, because caring for women’s health isn’t optional, it’s essential.
Earlier this year Labor announced an historic $790 million Women’s Health Package to bring more choice, lower costs and better health care for women. This sits alongside our commitment to strengthen Medicare and make medicines cheaper to deliver a health system that works for women.
The response from women around the country was overwhelming. After running into the barriers of cost, stigma and availability for their entire lives, women told us that they felt seen, heard and understood.
The listing of new contraceptive pills on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme for the first time in thirty years (yes, that’s three decades without a new pill being added to the PBS!) is now giving women more choice and saving them hundreds of dollars every year. The same goes for the expansion of bulk billing and increasing Medicare support for long-term contraceptives such as IUDs and implants – which is reducing out of pocket costs by around $400. These are real savings in women’s pockets, and more importantly, more control over their own reproductive health.
For decades, women going through menopause were left behind too. Treatments were too expensive and too hard to access. That’s changing, too, with the listing of the first new menopausal hormone therapies on the PBS in 20 years.
Combined with 60 day dispensing and the further reduction of the cost of PBS medicines to $25 in early 2026, women stand to save hundreds of dollars a year on contraceptives and menopause therapies.
Something that is often raised with me and my colleagues is making sure that doctors are being supported to provide women’s healthcare. A big part of our women’s health package is around doing exactly that by introducing new Medicare rebates for menopause health assessments, and new training for more practitioners in menopause care, including the first-ever national clinical menopause treatment guidelines and awareness campaign. These reforms are about recognising menopause for what it is: a significant stage of life that affects half the population and that deserves serious attention and support.
On top of all of that, we’re also expanding our network of endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics to 33, with new 11 new clinics – and making sure that all 33 clinics also provide specialised menopause support, creating a network of care across every state and territory.
And we’re trialling pharmacy-led treatment for UTIs and contraceptive advice for concession cardholders, keeping care fast, local and affordable.
These reforms matter because they respond directly to what women have told us. They told us costs were too high, that it was too hard to find the right care, that their pain and experiences were too often dismissed. And we listened.
People have been dismissive, or squeamish about women’s health for too long – but not anymore.
This women’s health week, the Albanese Government is saying out loud what used to be whispered. We are talking about perimenopause and menopause, periods and contraception, endometriosis and adenomyosis. And we are acknowledging that women experience higher health costs and are navigating a system that has not always accommodated them.
And here’s the important part: we don’t just say we care; we invest. We put funding behind the words. We create programs that women can actually use. We remove costs that women have carried for too long.
Of course, the job isn’t finished, but we have our sleeves rolled up. And now, in Rebecca White we have an Assistant Minister for Women who is also Assistant Minister for Health, working closely with me and Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler to deliver better outcomes for women across the different phases of their lives.
This Women’s Health Week, the message I want women across Australia to hear is this: you matter. You’re being listened to. And Labor is investing in you, because a healthier Australia for women means a stronger, fairer Australia for all.