Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party, Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question and for the great work that she does in her electorate. It's very, very clear that women are helping the Australian economy to rebuild following what we have gone through over the last 12 to 18 months, and this government is going to make sure that we help women every step of the way. The women's workforce participation rate in June was 61.6 per cent, just a fraction off the record high of 61.8 per cent in March this year, and that's a great outcome and one that we should all be very proud of. We all know that workforce participation is important because economic security goes hand in hand with financial independence. The measures that we have introduced in the Women's Budget Statement provide targeted support to increase women's employment choices and address barriers in the workforce. Together, that helps ensure that women can build a secure future. In total we invested $3.4 billion of new funding through this year's Women's Budget Statement in women's safety, economic security, health and wellbeing. Our childcare investment alone will add up to 300,000 hours of work per week to our economy each year, allowing up to 40,000 people to work an extra day per week, and boost GDP by up to $1.5 billion per year. That is just one of the very practical ways that we are helping Australian women. Our focus is always on making sure that we are putting in place practical outcomes that are going to make a real difference—not thought bubbles, not headlines. We're actually providing women with the support that they need to support their own economic security. We have certainly put significant amounts of money into this. We've committed a further $39.8 million to expand the successful Women's Leadership and Development Program. That program supports a wide range of projects, including Women Building Australia, run by Master Builders Australia, to support more women in construction, the Brave Foundation to support expecting and parenting teams, and projects that support Indigenous women right across Australia to build their businesses. We are doing all that we can to make sure that we are delivering the practical policies that are going to support women and make sure that they can build their own economic security.

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