Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm proud to stand here today on International Women's Day as a member of the Albanese Labor government, the first-ever government in Australia's history with a majority of women. The Australian Greens believe that women in Australia deserve genuine progress on women's safety, health and economic security, and I couldn't agree more, and the Albanese Labor government could not agree more. That's why we've passed 10 days of paid family and domestic violence leave, appointed Ms Cronin as the first Domestic Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner, delivered $1.3 billion in the October 2022 budget towards implementation of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children from 2022 to 2032, and allocated $100 million for crisis and transitional housing options for older women at risk of homelessness and for women and children leaving family and domestic violence situations. We have invested in early childhood education and paid parental leave and supported a pay rise for our lowest-paid workers and for aged-care workers, in particular, which I have been fighting for for so long. We have supported those sectors of the workforce that have a predominance of women workers. We have established the National Women's Advisory Council to improve health outcomes for women and to tackle medical bias. We've committed to implementing all 55 recommendations from the Respect@Work report to ensure that our workplaces are environments that are free from harassment, assault and abuse.

Australia is by no means perfect. Our global standing on women's rights has dropped significantly, especially over the last 10 years of inaction and disregard by the previous government. But the work of the Albanese Labor government is righting these wrong. We are working hard every day to ensure that women are safe and respected in their workplaces, in their homes and in our communities. I want to add that International Women's Day is a day to reflect on inspiring women within every community, and none more so than in my home state of Tasmania. We can also reflect on accomplishments of women in our lives and where we are achieving change. We can remember the journey we have taken personally. I remember campaigning at my high school for a girls' right to wear trousers instead of the uniform of skirts during winter because it was so cold. I also campaigned for girls' rights to study woodwork and metalwork in my high school.

The campaign for gender equality continues as we try to end the gender pay gap and ensure women and girls are afforded opportunities to succeed in whatever fields or endeavours they choose to pursue in work and in life. This week we have spent a lot of time, particularly in question time, talking about the superannuation changes that will be made for people that have $3 million or more in their superannuation funds. I remember being a young woman working in Melbourne in the finance sector of a short-term money market. At that time you had to work for that company for 10 years before you might—might—be invited to join the superannuation scheme. I thank Paul Keating and his Labor government—again, a Labor government—for introducing superannuation, which gave women like me the opportunity to start earning some superannuation. As we all know, women are at a disadvantage when they return to the workforce after leaving to have their children. Women of my generation just don't have the superannuation savings that, thankfully, my daughters will have going forward.

There is still so much to be done. At times people come into this chamber and try to make political points, and, instead of that, I know Senator Waters and others believe women should be working together, irrespective of where our political views are. The only way we're going to advance women and give our daughters and granddaughters the future that they deserve is if we work together and keep raising these issues to make people aware that women still don't have the same rights when it comes to earning what our male counterparts do.