The federal budget was handed down on Tuesday night, delivering some key wins for women, especially singe mothers, and boosting investment in key areas like Medicare and initiatives to ease the cost of living.
The government also allocated funding for some of the key recommendations made by Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, including a pay rise for aged care workers, the abolition of ParentsNext, and the expanded eligibility for the single parent payment.
A range of key organisations have noted the budget provides a good start on addressing gender equality, however many also make clear there is much more to do.
Below, we’ve provided a rundown of some of the key initial reactions about the budget and its impact on women and gender equality.
Chief Executive Women
Chief Executive Women (CEW) has welcomed the budget and the Women’s Budget Statement as an impactful budget for women, saying it includes crucial measures to enable women’s participation in the economy, while also offering support to vulnerable women who are most impacted by cost-of-living pressures.
CEW President Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz said: “This is a Budget that delivers for women. At a time when we face a challenging economic outlook as a nation, CEW welcomes a budget that invests in measures to unlock women’s participation, one of the most important levers to increase productivity and drive prosperity for all.
“This budget sends a powerful signal that gender balanced decision-making drives strong economic outcomes.”
The Climate Council
The Climate Council has said the budget’s climate funding is “a warm up lap in history’s most important race”, noting there were some temporary power bill relief and measures for households and businesses to tap into renewables. However, the Council says it does not meet the scale of the climate emergency.
Amanda McKenzie, CEO of the Climate Council said: “The measures in this budget for cost of living are, for the most part, temporary. This is a missed opportunity to permanently lower people’s power bills. To meet the climate challenge head on, Australia needs to urgently unlock the most affordable energy source available, renewables.
“Sure, this Budget provides renewables assistance to 170,000 households. But when you consider the critical challenge of electrifying everything with renewable power, backed with storage, for 10.8 million households, that barely gets us off the starting blocks.
“The Labor Government has demonstrated in this Budget that they want to support Australians who are struggling. Climate change makes every Australian vulnerable, so the scale of investment on climate action needs to match the task ahead of us.”
Thrive by Five
The Minderoo Foundation’s Thrive by Five has welcomed the government’s progress towards universal early learning but says it is disappointed about the missed opportunities to provide equal access for all families including First Nations Australians.
The group will continue to call for the abolition of the Child Care Subsidy activity test, which leaves some of the most disadvantaged children in Australia with limited access to early education and care. Thrive by Five also calls for the restoration of funding for First Nations-led and operated childcare centres.
Women in ICT
Women in ICT (WIC) said the budget has made some good steps to improving pathways for women in ICT and STEM, however there is much more that could be done to address gender inequality in tech.
“While WIC welcomes the Government’s commitment to improving pathways for women in ICT and STEM through the Australian Skills Guarantee and Women in STEM program, we also see an opportunity to address what’s happening at schools, where girls don’t see themselves in tech,” a spokesperson said.
“We need to go back to the beginning and look at the cause, rather than the symptom of gender inequity within the technology sector.
“It all starts with schools, where young girls make decisions about what career paths they will take and how they will get there.
“WIC firmly believes that the Federal Government must invest greater funding into solving the gender diversity issue that exists within the technology sector, starting with education in schools.”
Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL)
WEL has welcomed a range of initiatives in the budget including in the areas of women’s economic security, ending violence against women, women’s safety, pay equity through a boost in pay to aged care workers, expanded provision for bulk billing and skills and training and specifically for First Nations women.
However it has noted some short falls, including in the health section of the Women’s Budget, and “inadequate” funding for initiatives under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032.
WEL welcomed the $194 million over four years for the national plan to end violence against First Nations Women, and acknowledged the changes for single parents, including the expansion of eligibility for the Parenting Payment (Single) to single parents whose youngest child is aged up to 14 and the abolition of the humiliating ParentsNext program.
WEL said it is “extremely disappointed” that the Budget retains the activity test for eligibility for childcare subsidy, and said while it supports the Housing Australia Future Fund and the increase in the liability cap of the Affordable Housing Bond Aggregator, they will be “insufficient” to increase the number of social and affordable dwellings required.
WEL also said the 15 per cent increase to the Commonwealth Rent Assistance scheme “falls far short of the fifty per cent WEL and other organisations have recommended”.
The group also noted the commitment of the Government towards gender budgeting, the expansion of the scope of gender impact assessment and to strengthening gender analysis.
Misson Australia
Mission Australia acknowledged the government’s intent to “ease some of the pressures for people who are doing it tough, and their genuine discussions with the community sector”. However, it said the lack of a substantial increase to JobSeeker and other income support payments is “disappointing”.
“Amidst cost-of-living pressures, Mission Australia is concerned the Government’s refusal to increase JobSeeker to at least $76 daily will force more people into poverty and homelessness. There is no new initiative of scale to respond to the current devastating housing emergency – nothing to stop more and more people being pushed into homelessness across the country,” a statement said.
“The government’s efforts on housing for low-income earners remain measures that will see some more social housing eventually, but nothing by way of immediate relief for people without safe and affordable homes.”
Financy
Financy CEO, Bianca Hartge-Hazelman, said the Federal Budget 2023 was on the right side of progress for gender equality, however there was
no sign of a gender equality target”, which is a big missed opportunity.
“We also didn’t get any sign of a shift in employer paid superannuation on paid parental leave,” Hartge-Hazelman said.
“There were some important wins (although hard fought wins) for older women and single parents but still a lot more needs to be done to ensure the employment incentives are there…flexible work and employer subsidies being two ideas.
“Financy also welcomes the government commitment to encourage more women into apprenticeships by setting national gender targets on major Australian Government‑funded construction and information and communications technology (ICT) projects valued at $10 million or more. This is a structural shift in challenging gender stereotypes across industries that will go a long way towards reducing gender inequalities in the workforce and in the gender pay gap.
“Indeed the Women’s Budget Statement also noted that more men would be encouraged to participate and gain skills in fields where women have been historically over‑represented, such as the care and support sector.”
The Dream Collective
Managing Director of diversity, equity and inclusion consultancy firm The Dream Colllective, Sarah Liu, has noted the budget’s efforts on specific targets for women in apprenticeships and traineeships in ICT through the Australian Skills Guarantee.
“Investment into apprenticeships that streamline the entry and re-entry process for women is a welcome improvement,”Liu said.
“”Women are underrepresented in the technology industry and it is no secret that women, companies and our economy lose out because of this. The Australian Skills Guarantee will hopefully make waves on this front as it lays out specific targets for female apprentices and trainees on major Government-funded ICT projects.
“It’s important we use this initiative to expand how companies view the employability of women and start placing accountability in employers to employ and advance more of this talent pool. Tech offers one of the most sustainable and rewarding career paths available, we do not want women to miss out on the great opportunities that await them in the sector because of barriers to entry. It is time we move the dial from talk to action fast.”