Labor has moved to position itself as the party for female voters to turn to at the upcoming Federal election, rolling out a suite of female focused measures in their fourth Budget.
Off the back of polling showing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and opposition leader Peter Dutton are on the nose with female voters, Tuesday’s Budget delivered across five priority areas.
It included gender-based violence, unpaid and paid care, economic equality and security, health, and leadership and representation.
Minister for Women Katy Gallagher said the 2025-26 women’s Budget was aimed to “shift the dial” across the board for women.
The Government will deliver $534.5 million across six years to address the national gender-based violence crisis.
The Budget sought to strengthen the way the criminal justice system responds to sexual assault in the wake of an Australian Law Reform Commission inquiry by expanding and extending a legal support pilot.
The specialised trauma-informed sexual assault legal services pilots will receive a $19.6m top up, which will be extended from Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory to other jurisdictions.
They also hope to slash the average cost and seven-year wait time for women to receive a diagnosis for endometriosis by establishing 11 new specialist clinics.
It will bring the total endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics to 33 nationally.
It will also add the first listing for new menopausal hormone therapies to the PBS in over 20 years.
Labor have also sought to create more choice for contraceptive options by adding new oral contraceptives pills to the PBS for the first time in 30 years.
Improving access to treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infection also forms part of the broader health package.
“Because of our Government, women’s health is not a boutique issues or a question of special interest – it’s a national priority,” Dr Chalmers said.
To aid mothers returning to the workforce, Labor proposes a three-day guarantee from January next year.
It will mean women working less than 48 hours per fortnight can rely on 72 subsidised hours of care regardless of how these hours fluctuate.
Labor also vows to help lift wages in the female-dominated area, delivering a phased 15 per cent wage increase for workers over two years.
“We’ve supported a historic wage increase for the early childhood education and care workforce,” Dr Chalmers said in his speech.
Ms Gallagher said low wages in the support economy drives the gender pay gap and a lack of affordable early childhood education was a barrier to families working the way they wanted.
The create more childcare centres, $1B will be delivered over five years to expand the current network, especially into outer suburbs and regional areas.
The boost to childcare also comes after an ABC investigation which found shocking failures across the system, including child sex abuse, assault and neglect.
Ms Gallagher said the changes are about addressing “long-standing gaps” in Australia’s healthcare system.
“We have made huge strides forward over the last three years, but we know there is still a way to go,” she said.
“For the Albanese Government, women’s equality is not an afterthought, it is essential to building Australia’s future.
“And we will continue to take this important work seriously as we strive to create a better, more equal Australia for everyone.”
To strengthen the responses to perpetrators of family and domestic violence, an additional $1 billion will be provided to the National Housing Infrastructure Facility for crisis support for women and children fleeing violence.
Almost $22m has been allocated across two years from 2025–26 to continue to provide family, domestic and sexual violence services to First Nations women, children and communities.
The Budget has also allowed ten existing birthing on country services to extend a further year to June 2026 to provide First Nations midwifery.
Mr Albanese on Tuesday told ABC radio that domestic violence had no place in Australia and claimed Labor had inherited a sector that wasn’t properly funded.
“We inherited a government, from a government that regarded women’s issues and gender issues as being something that was thought of as an afterthought,” he said.
https://thewest.com.au/politics/budget/women-front-and-centre-after-polling-places-labor-on-the-nose-with-female-voters-c-18156573
