Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Senator Walsh. For too long Australia has fallen behind the rest of the world when it comes to gender equality. I know many members in this place were at the UN Women Australia's breakfast this morning, where this subject was talked about, I think, by all of the speakers who addressed us, including the Prime Minister and our leader here, Senator Wong.

Under the previous government, Australia fell to 43rd of 145 countries on the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index 2022, having ranked 15th in 2006. We ranked 50th for economic empowerment, and that fell as low as 271st in 2021. We want to address this and improve on these results considerably. The Albanese government is working hard to restore Australia as a global leader on gender equality. Our budget put gender equality front and centre, investing over $7 billion to drive gender equality and reintroducing gender-responsive budgeting. (Time expired)