Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Minister for Revenue and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

Representing the government, as I do, as Minister for Women, I'd like to make an opening statement in relation to women. The 2018-19 budget enhances the lives of all Australian women by pursuing practical changes to support opportunity and choice. The government is continuing to put in place the right settings to deliver a stronger economy, to guarantee the essential services that women and Australians rely upon. A stronger economy means that more women are in work now than ever before. A key priority for the government is to provide those right economic settings for women to help them into work and to help them to be able to save, because we know that when they do that they have choices about their lives. I am delighted to be able to confirm that, as Minister for Women, I will be delivering a women's economic security statement later on in the year, in the spring of 2018.

I just want to focus on this fact that we have more women working than ever before. Five point eight million Australian women are now employed in Australia. We are committed to ensuring that they have every opportunity to be able to engage in paid work, to have the right support to expand their skills, to take advantage of new employment opportunities and to be able to save for their retirement. Very specifically, in budget 2018-19 we are making personal income taxes lower, fairer and simpler for all Australians, including women, through our Personal Income Tax Plan; encouraging more women to pursue STEM education and careers by providing $4.5 million over four years; helping women to be able to take advantage of opportunities in the healthcare and social assistance industry, by providing $64.3 million to establish a Jobs and Market Fund to grow the National Disability Insurance Scheme workforce; developing women's financial capability by providing $10 million for initiatives to put women in control of their financial lives now and into the future as part of the financial capability Australia fund. This is a $65 million fund that will work, not only in this government but beyond governments, to provide financial capability and empowerment to those individuals who choose to use it. We all know that from the moment you enter this world to the moment you leave it you are engaging in the financial system. So it's critically important that we give Australian women and men, but specifically Australian women, who don't feel very confident in making financial decisions, as we know from the surveys that we have seen, the toolkit that they need to make the best decisions they can to enhance their choices, their opportunities and their lives.

We know that Australian women are aspirational. They are aspirational for themselves, for their future and for their communities. I know that there are those opposite, perhaps, who might agree with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition—I suppose aspiration mystifies them—but I suspect most of the people in this room would agree that Australian women are aspirational for themselves, for their families and for their communities.

In our budget we are also supporting the national rollout of the Skills Checkpoint for Older Workers Program for women and men between 45 and 70 years of age by providing $3.3 million as part of the More Choices for a Longer Life package. I was very pleased to be able to introduce the legislation today. Very importantly, we are helping to protect the superannuation balances of around two million Australian women with low and inactive accounts from undue erosion by high administration and investment fees and exit fees, making sure that they can have the very most in their retirement savings, making sure that they're not paying high insurance premiums that they either do not want or do not need and, in some cases, cannot even claim upon. I note for the record here that it was very disappointing to find out, as the minister now responsible for superannuation, that the former minister who was responsible for superannuation—that is, the Leader of the Opposition—was the very person who took the decision, at the time that he was responsible, to uncap fees for low balance accounts, which will mean, for some people, tens of thousands of dollars less in their retirement savings and in some cases even hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is particularly devastating for women who have low balance accounts, but I'm happy to report that, through our budget measures, we are protecting them, their retirement income and their retirement savings.

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