Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government has a deep and abiding commitment to achieving gender equity, which is why over the past weeks we've announced important initiatives that aim to address the persistent and systemic issues that women continue to face. I'm very proud that, after extensive work by Senator Katy Gallagher, we've released Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality, which is the culmination of extensive consultation with thousands of people across the country, including women's advocacy groups, business, unions and civil society.

In many respects, this strategy highlights women's hopes and aspirations. While a lot of progress has been made over the years, the lived experience and expertise of women tells us that barriers persist in both public and private life, including unacceptable rates of gender based violence, harmful stereotypes, pay gaps and underrepresentation. For some, I think it's easy to forget that the status of women, our opportunities to succeed and, indeed, our ability to stand here in this chamber have been fought for over many, many decades by activists, unionists and feminists, and the struggle continues. This is something I'm incredibly passionate about and something this government takes very, very seriously. Our strategy outlines where government will focus its efforts over the next decade to ensure Australia is a place where everyone feels safe and respected and has access to equal opportunity regardless of their gender.

As someone who grew up in a situation where boys and girls were intentionally openly treated very differently and where girls had no ambition encouraged in them, it is great to see this piece of work coming out to the public. The Working for Women strategy identifies long-term ambitions that we hope young women and girls can really see as opportunities for them and will take up to be all that they can be without those barriers that we know persist.

In all of its decision-making, government will consider how we address gender based violence, unpaid and paid care, economic equality and security, health and leadership, representation, and decision-making. This needs to be done intentionally so that we can ensure that we make progress at the pace we need. This goes well beyond just talking about the issues, and it sets a road map for actually addressing them. The targets are deliverable and measurable, and we'll be working alongside women from all backgrounds every single step of the way to make sure that this is working for them.

Future policy and decision-making will be shaped by this strategy, but we have already introduced a range of other things that are going to make a difference for women. One of those key things is our changes to paid parental leave, which will benefit every single Australian who chooses to become a parent. This will particularly make a fundamental difference to women's economic security, because we know that overwhelmingly it is still women who do the bulk of unpaid care work.

This significant reform scales up year on year to 26 weeks from July 2026. This is particularly significant for single parents, which, again, is where women are very much overrepresented. As a single mother myself, I know that it will make a fundamental difference. It certainly would have to me.

In addition, the Albanese government has also announced that we will pay superannuation on paid parental leave from July 2025. This reform is seriously overdue and finally recognises paid parental leave for what it actually is. It is a workplace entitlement just like sick leave, annual leave and other types of workplace entitlement.

As a government, we will continue to work to address gender pay gaps and improve the outcomes for all women across this country. These efforts will be underpinned by this strategy, and I hope it will be supported across the political divide and throughout this chamber and our society, because it is vital for us all to work towards this goal.