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

I thank Senator Grogan for the supplementary. Better gender representation does lead to better outcomes. We know this. It is documented time and time again, and this government has not wasted any time in delivering crucial gender equality reforms after a decade of stalled progress under the former government. Not only does increased representation of women mean we have improved our global standing with more women around the decision-making table but also, ultimately, that will flow onto better decisions for women.

If I could just point out the gender assessment process that we are putting through our budget, which means that all of the new measures will be looked at with an understanding at that table about what the impacts are for men and for women and whether there are disproportionate impacts, which will allow better decision-making. I do wonder whether, if this had been in place when the ParentsNext program was put in place, where we saw a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged young women, in particular single parents— (Time expired)