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

I'll take the opportunity to add my congratulations to Senator Wong for her nuptials on the weekend. My question is to Minister Gallagher, representing the health minister. Two weeks ago the government released the gender equality strategy, which said that the government will consider reforms to make access to sexual and reproductive health care easier. We know what reforms are needed because in May last year the Senate tabled the report of the inquiry on universal access to reproductive health care. It had 36 recommendations. The government's response to these recommendations is now seven months overdue. What is the explanation for the government's inaction on women's health?

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

I thank Senator Waters for the question. I don't accept the proposition that was put at the end of that question. The government has been doing an enormous amount of work through Minister Kearney in the area of women's health, whether it be working through the Women's Health Advisory Council that she established or delivering the endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics that she has been leading. Twenty-two clinics are already open. We are investing in research on women's health. There is the Senate committee report, as you say, which had a number of recommendations, and the government is considering that and finalising its response. I have been working closely with Minister Kearney as she finalises some of her thinking about priorities in women's health.

You'll note that in the national gender equality strategy health was one of the key areas identified. One of the pillars is around a focus on driving gender equality, acknowledging the gendered impact of access to services, including reproductive healthcare services, across the country and some of the differences in access to services that exist depending on where you live. So we are using that report, Senator Waters. We will respond to that report. But it is aligning with a lot of work. It is running alongside a lot of work that the government is doing in the area of women's health.

There was an important announcement this morning by Minister Kearney around midwives and being able to use their full scope of practice. That reform has been around for a long time. We are making moves on that—again, improving access to women's health services. But we will be responding to the report as required.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Waters, a first supplementary?

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

At the Women's Health Summit last Thursday, multiple women's health experts endorsed the inquiry's recommendations to make reproductive health care more affordable and accessible. Will the government commit to implementing the inquiry's recommendations in full?

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

I thank Senator Waters for the supplementary question. As I said in my first answer, we have the recommendations in the report before us. We are currently considering those recommendations. We accept that there is a lot of support for those recommendations across the community and accept that there were a lot of stakeholders involved in the work to finalise that report. We will respond to it. We take this area, women's health, very seriously. We have a minister essentially dedicated to the work in that space. Every day she is out there either meeting with women's health organisations or announcing a new service that we are implementing, whether it be those pelvic pain clinics, whether it be working with states and territories or whether it be the announcement that the minister made this morning. And we will respond to that report.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Waters, second supplementary?

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

When will the government stop making women wait and finally implement the inquiry's recommendations to make reproductive health care more affordable and accessible?

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

We're not making women wait. The work that the government is doing is about improving access to health services for all women—the tripling of the bulk-billing rate, for example. We know that women will be significant beneficiaries of that, if not for themselves then, as the majority primary health carers for children, for their children. All of those decisions we're taking in the budget have gender analysis that underpins them. We understand the impact that a number of them have on women. Honestly, I cannot commend the work of Minister Kearney more. She is an extraordinary minister. She has done more for women's health in 18 months than we saw in the previous decade—by far—and she has more to do. There are those pain clinics she's opening, the research she's doing, the announcement she's made today and the stakeholders she's engaging with. And there will be further announcements as she completes some of that work before her.