Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

Labor sold its federal budget as putting women at the centre, but a closer look merely shows a mixed approach to women's policies. Whilst the coalition has welcomed some of these measures, Australian women deserve more than this. Despite highlighting in the Women's Budget Statement that the workforce participation gap between men and women is largest in their prime child-rearing years, the government did not extend funding for the Career Revive program, which was introduced by the coalition. This program supported businesses to attract and retain women returning to work after a career break. Given the data shows that women are more likely to step out of the workforce when starting a family, what is the government's plan to support these women getting back into work?

Despite being highlighted by the government's own Women's Economic Equality Taskforce, the government didn't make changes to Paid Parental Leave or superannuation in this budget or make any changes to child care. Whilst the coalition isn't calling for these specific measures to be implemented, the government is ignoring the advice of their own hand-picked task force when it comes to achieving economic equality. Labor's budget was full of healthcare headlines, but it was almost empty on measures relating to mental health and women's health. According to Beyond Blue, around one in six women in Australia will experience depression and one in three women will experience anxiety during their lifetime. Women also experience post-traumatic stress disorder at higher rates than men; however, the Labor government cut the number of Medicare subsidised psychology sessions in half. These extra 10 sessions are critical for some of the most vulnerable people in our society, particularly young women. That is why the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, announced in his budget in reply speech that the coalition is committed to permanently reinstating the full 20 Medicare subsidised psychology sessions that we originally introduced in government. Why won't the government reinstate these sessions, especially as they'll predominantly benefit young women?

The government badged the increase of bulk-billing incentives and the Workforce Incentive Program as a women's health measure; however, there wasn't much in the budget to support specific women's health issues. That's why the opposition leader confirmed the coalition's commitment to investing $4 million to Ovarian Cancer Australia so they can continue their critical work. Further, the coalition announced it would allocate $5 million to review women-specific health items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule and corresponding treatments on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The review will identify what best-practice women-specific medical services are not listed and ensure clinically effective services and treatments remain affordable and accessible.

The coalition has welcomed the government's measures relating to women's safety in the budget; however, despite big promises, when coming to government, to end domestic violence in a generation, the Albanese government has failed to deliver single community worker through its election pledge to create 500 new frontline roles, despite funding the measure in the October budget, over seven months ago. When the measure was funded, the Albanese government promised to have 200 new workers employed this financial year. With just days to go and with no workers in place, this milestone is in tatters. We have also learnt that the government carved up the amount of funding for these workers based on electorates first, not by need. The government promised there would be 200 new community workers on the ground by now. Minister, where are these workers that you promised? Can you provide an updated timeline of when we can expect to see these 500 new community workers delivered as promised? We also urge the government to finalise the first action plan that sits under the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032. Given this action plan will detail the actions, investments and measurements of success, it is imperative that this action plan is delivered as quickly as possible.

The government has noted previously that this first five-year plan was expected to be released in early 2023. We are now more than halfway through 2023, and there has been no movement. Despite the importance of this policy, the government has once again failed to deliver on a promise on time. It has now been revealed that the first action plan will not be delivered until August. Minister, can you guarantee that the Australian public will see the first action plan in August? Whilst the coalition has welcomed some of the measures in the budget, Australian women of all ages and from all backgrounds deserve more than what this government is promising to deliver.

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