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

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion 1422 standing in my name for today, relating to budget asks for Australian women, at the request of Labor, to delete some specific funding amounts for domestic violence and abortion before asking that it be taken as a formal motion.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended in the terms circulated in the chamber:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) today on Budget day, the women of Australia will be looking to their government to address economic inequality and women's financial security,

  (ii) the gender pay gap is currently 14.6%, meaning women would have to work an extra 62 days per year to earn the same money as their male counterparts,

  (iii) the fastest-growing cohort of homeless people in Australia is older women,

  (iv) one in two women fleeing domestic violence are turned away from refuges due to lack of beds,

  (v) there is unmet need for legal advice and support for women due to underfunding of community legal centres,

  (vi) one in three women retire with no superannuation, and those who do retire with superannuation do so with just over half the amount that men do,

  (vii) women do most of the unpaid care work in society, estimated at more than 60%,

  (viii) well over 50% of migrants to Australia are women, and they bear the cost of delays in family reunification processing, and

  (ix) budget cuts made in 2014 to frontline domestic violence services have been compounded by continued underfunding; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government in tonight's Budget to:

  (i) restore the Women's Budget Impact Statement, axed in 2014,

  (ii) fully fund family and domestic violence services, by funding frontline crisis services and primary prevention,

  (iii) commit to make abortion safe, accessible, legal and free,

  (iv) address the housing and homelessness crisis for older women, by providing certainty of funding for transitional housing and crisis services,

  (v) work to extend paid parental leave arrangements to a goal of twenty-six weeks with superannuation, and

  (vi) increase foreign aid to improve global equality for women through Australia's international development program.

Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I seek to split the question on everything up and to and including (b)(iv), with (b)(v) and (vi) to be taken separately.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition government released information about the budget measures for women in budget fact sheets and initiated the Women's Economic Security Statement, which provides practical measures to support women. This government is making the single largest ever Commonwealth investment in combating domestic violence. This government is making parental leave pay more flexible so that families have choices and can make decisions about what works best for them. This government has established Australia as the global leader in gender equality and women's empowerment, advancing the rights of women and girls as a top priority across the aid program by delivering $1.3 billion in official development assistance in 2017-18 that targeted gender equality globally.

Duncan Spender (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Duncan Spender (NSW, Liberal Democratic Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is not my first speech. Whilst it is perfectly fine to make motions about various women's issues, it's important not to skirt around issues that affect men in particular and there are some issues here that are a bit odd. Yes, it is the case that there are a growing number of older women in homelessness, but it is important to note that a great majority of homeless people in Australia are men and that the issue is rising for men. Between 2011 and 2016, 41 out of 10,000 women were homeless, which is terrible. It stayed at that level between 2011 and 2016. For men, it was 54 out of 10,000 in 2011 and had risen to 58 out of 10,000 by 2016. So there are real issues here, but skirting around the even deeper issue for men in this society seems a bit odd. (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Following the request from Senator Hinch, I'm going to put the question on all of clause (a)—that is, (a)(i) to (a)(ix)—and the first four parts of clause (b)—that is, clauses (b)(i), (b)(ii), (b)(iii) and (b)(iv).

Question agreed to.

I will now put the question on clauses (b)(v) and (b)(vi) separately.

Question agreed to.