Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) on International Women's Day 2021, more than 30 prominent women wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for the upcoming Federal Budget to 'make the lives of Australian women easier, not harder',

(ii) the Workplace Gender Equality Agency data shows the gender pay gap in Australia is currently 13.4%,

(iii) KPMG estimates that halving the gender pay gap would increase annual GDP by $60 billion over the next two decades,

(iv) the cost, quality and availability of early childhood education and childcare remains a significant barrier to women's workforce participation, and

(v) domestic, family and sexual violence disproportionately impacts women and children; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to:

(i) reintroduce the Women's Budget Impact Statement to assess the gendered impacts of budget decisions and inform the Government's reform agenda,

(ii) adequately fund frontline domestic, family and sexual violence and crisis housing services to ensure that all women and children can access services when and where they need them,

(iii) deliver affordable, accessible early childhood education and childcare,

(iv) introduce more equitable parental leave arrangements to encourage shared care, and

(v) properly fund measures to address the gender pay gap, value the care economy, and support women's workforce participation.