Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Senator Fierravanti-Wells. Can the minister advise the Senate what the Turnbull government is doing to promote gender equality and reduce family violence in our region?

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It will be a short answer.

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

) ( ): I thank Senator Hume for her question and, no, it will not be a short answer, Senator Hanson-Young. Perhaps if you listen you might learn something, especially, Senator Hanson-Young, I would say to you, in the lead-up to White Ribbon Day and the United Nations international day for the elimination of men's violence against women, both of which are on 25 November.

The Turnbull government is committed to eliminating violence against women—indeed, eliminating all forms of domestic and family violence—and to promoting gender equality not just in our own country but in our region as well. Our Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development program is Australia's flagship program. It is a 10-year $320 million initiative which supports improved political, economic and social opportunities for Pacific women.

Pacific Women has provided a variety of support services and programs and these include, and I just mention some by example, ensuring the participation of over 1,700 women in training and accessing financial services, running small businesses and improving financial literacy, seeing over 4,700 women become part of market vendor associations and thereby influencing market governance structures in their countries and ensuring nearly 13,000 women have access to a variety of crisis support services, including counselling, health and legal support.

In addition to Pacific Women, Australia supports a number of other gender equality initiatives in the Pacific, in law and justice, in health, in education and in economic growth. For example, providing financial literacy training has been provided to over 13,000 women, in PNG, in 2014-15 through microfinancing projects. (Time expired)

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hume, with a supplementary question.

Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for her answer, which is indeed heartening. Can the minister outline the importance of providing development assistance to improve gender equality in our region?

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Women in the Pacific face numerous and entrenched challenges and so change will always be incremental. More than 60 per cent of women surveyed had experienced physical or sexual violence. Pacific women make up 6.7 per cent of parliamentarians—the lowest rate in the world—compared to a global average of 21 per cent.

Across the Pacific, men outnumber women in paid employment outside the agriculture sector by approximately two to one and women occupy only a third of the formal sector jobs. Of course, the causes of gender inequality are complex and they are interconnected. Our overseas development assistance programs have been working at the individual, at the family, at the community and at the national levels. We partner with local organisations and with government, but change in one area alone will not be sufficient. We need to access women's economic security to ensure that they do have a voice.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister. Senator Hume, with a final supplementary question.

Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister explain how promoting gender equality in our region directly benefits Australia?

Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Gender equality is directly relevant to our national-interest objective of a stable, secure and prosperous Pacific region. By increasing women's economic empowerment, by eliminating violence against women and improving leadership for women, we will help women contribute to the economic stability of their country and, in turn, the region.

Through our Pacific Women program we aim to ensure women and women's issues are represented and visible in leadership positions, at all levels of decision-making, to expand opportunities for women to earn an income and accumulate economic assets, to reduce the prevalence of violence against women and to ensure that survivors of violence have access to support, to services and to justice—because when a woman succeeds so does her family. And when her family prospers so does her country. These objectives all correspond directly to our national interest of a stable and secure region.