STATEMENTS BY SENATORS
Senator POLLEY (Tasmania) (12:15): I rise to speak about the Albanese Labor government's record of delivering real change for Australian women and our determination as a government to keep pursuing genuine gender equality. For Labor, equality is not a slogan. It's not a simple policy.
It means designing governments around the realities of women's lives: paid work and unpaid care, raising children and supporting family members, building financial security, accessing health care, finding a safe home, gaining qualifications and retiring with dignity. That is why this government has put economic and social equality at the centre of our agenda.
We know that progress is measured in practical outcomes: more time with a newborn, a smaller childcare bill, a safer pathway out of violence, an affordable medical appointment, a fairer tax system, qualifications without crippling fees and a genuine chance to own your own home. One of the most important reforms is the expansion of paid parental leave to 26 weeks, a full six months.
Labor established paid parental leave, and Labor is now strengthening it with a new generation of families. This expansion gives parents more precious time to recover, bond with their baby and settle into family life without being forced back to work too soon by financial pressure. It also is designed for modern families.
Leave can be shared more flexibly, encouraging fathers and partners to take a greater role in the early care. That matters because, when care is shared more equally at home, women have a fairer opportunity to remain connected to their careers, earnings and professional development. Critically, the government is now paying superannuation on Commonwealth paid parental leave.
For too long, taking time out of paid employment to care for a child meant not only lower income at the time but a lasting penalty in retirement. Women should not have to choose between caring for their family and building financial security for later in life. Paying super on paid parental leave recognises that care has a value and that parents should not be punished for doing work that benefits the whole country.
The government has also expanded parenting payment single so that eligible single parents can remain on the higher payment until their youngest child turns 14, rather than being cut off when that child turns eight. More than 90 per cent of parents who benefit are women. This reform recognises a simple reality: caring responsibilities do not disappear when a child turns eight and single parents should have the security to combine care, work, study and training.
Labor has made child care cheaper for more than a million families. That is immediate cost-of-living relief, and it is also an economic reform. Affordable early education enables parents, particularly women, to return to work, increase their hours, study or train.
It strengthens household incomes and gives children the benefits of quality early learning. We know that that pays off when they go into primary school. From January this year, the three-day guarantee has ensured every childcare-subsidy-eligible family can access at least three days, or 72 hours, a fortnight of subsidised early childhood education and care, regardless of activity levels.
This replaces an activity test that could lock children out of early learning precisely when their families faced insecure work or other barriers. This reform says something important about our values on this side of the chamber. A child's access to early education should not depend on the stability of a parent's roster.
The reform gives families certainty, helps children start school ready to learn and supports women's workforce participation. Labor is also making free TAFE permanent. More than 60 per cent of free TAFE enrolments have been by women, opening pathways into secure, skilled and better paid work.
Free TAFE removes course fees in priority areas including care, health, technology, construction and early childhood education. It gives women facing economic insecurity, women returning to the workforce and women entering non-traditional fields a fairer chance to build a career. No government can credibly speak about equality without acting on women's safety.
The Albanese Labor government has made record investments to prevent violence, support victims-survivors and strengthen frontline and legal services. A further $500 million package is improving women's safety, including making the child support system safer and fairer so more families receive the child support they are owed. This matters because financial abuse can continue long after a relationship ends.
When payments are withheld, manipulated or avoided, women and children bear the consequences. These measures sit alongside the permanent Leaving Violence Program; ten days of paid family and domestic violence leave; investment in crisis accommodation, frontline workers and legal assistance; and action focused on prevention and high-risk perpetrators. Safety and economic security are inseparable.
A woman cannot be truly free if she cannot afford to leave. That is why support for housing, income, child care, legal services and employment must work together. Our goal is not simply to help women survive violence; it is to help them rebuild safe, independent and hopeful lives.
The government is also changing a health system that too often dismissed women's pain, delayed diagnosis and left women paying too much for essential care. There are now 33 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics operating across Australia. These clinics provide multidisciplinary care, improve pathways to diagnosis and treatment and help women access support closer to home.
They are also expanding to provide care for perimenopause and menopause. This is a major step towards a health system that listens to women and takes their symptoms seriously. Medicare rebates have been increased for the insertion of IUDs and other long-acting, reversible contraceptives, saving women up to $400 in out-of-pocket costs.
New Medicare items support longer specialist gynaecological consultations and menopause health assessments. These reforms mean more choice, earlier treatment and care based on women's needs not their capacity to pay. Medicines on the PBS now cost no more than $25 for general patients, with the concessional co-payment remaining lower.
New contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and treatments for endometriosis have also been made more affordable. For women managing chronic conditions, family budgets and caring responsibilities, these savings make a real difference. This is a Labor government delivering real change for Australian women.
Across the country, Medicare urgent care clinics provide free, walk-in care for urgent but non-life-threatening conditions. They take pressure off hospital emergency departments and give families another place to turn when a child spikes a fever, an infection worsens or a child has a suspected broken arm after falling off their bike. These injuries cannot wait but they don't need to be treated at emergency.
We're taking pressure off hospitals. Making these clinics a permanent part of Medicare is about timely care without worrying about the bill. That makes a difference to families' lives.
There are tax cuts that have benefited women. We know too that those tax cuts have not only helped in their day-to-day expenses, groceries, the power bill, rent, school expenses and savings but have also brought about a great benefit to the cost of living when it comes to the cost of everyday essential items. This is a government that has been listening to the community and delivering real changes.
The five per cent deposit scheme is helping Tasmanian families, and a lot of them are people that haven't had a chance to buy a home before because they worked in aged care or early childhood education. We supported their pay rises, because that's a government that delivers— (Time expired)