What’s underway: Recent Commonwealth actions

This Strategy is not the beginning. The Australian Government has already undertaken a range of actions and investments to progress gender equality.

Priority area 1: gender-based violence

Released the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032, along with states and territories, to guide actions towards ending violence against women and children in Australia, as well as the First Action Plan and dedicated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan. The Government has invested over $4 billion in women’s safety since the launch of the National Plan in 2022.
Invested to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women's safety through the development of a standalone National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Safety Plan, and by providing over $200 million for a range of initiatives to address family safety and to Close the Gap. This includes for cultural healing services, to support National Family Violence Prevention Legal Service providers, to address safety and early intervention initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Central Australia, to enable place-based initiatives in regional and remote Central Australia, and to fund Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service.
Taken action to improve consent and support respectful relationships, including investing in consent and respectful relationships education, social media resources for young people on consent and community-led sexual violence prevention pilots and releasing the Commonwealth Consent Policy Framework.
Improved criminal justice responses to sexual violence and reduced trauma for victim-survivors by supporting the Australian Law Reform Commission to undertake an inquiry into justice responses to sexual violence, informed by a national roundtable and a lived experience expert advisory group of victim-survivors and their advocates, and by developing an Action Plan Addressing Gender-based Violence in Higher Education to address sexual assault on campuses and improve student and staff safety.
Invested to prevent violence from happening in the first place, providing $104.4 million to Our Watch, Australia's national leader for the primary prevention of gender-based violence.
Reformed the Family Law System so that it is simpler, safer and more accessible for separating families and their children, including making changes to the Family Law Act 1975 and expanding programs in the Federal Circuit and Family Law Court of Australia. The Government has also supported Australia's implementation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction to make it safer for women and children impacted by international parental child abduction.
Acted to prevent and respond to sexual harassment by supporting implementation of all recommendations of the Respect@Work: Sexual Harassment National Inquiry Report. This includes the introduction of a new positive duty on employers to prevent workplace sexual harassment, sex discrimination and harassment under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. The Government is also supporting implementation of the Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces.
Invested in access to housing for women and children experiencing family violence by establishing a $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund. This will support 30,000 social and affordable homes, with an intent to provide 4,000 homes for women and children impacted by family and domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness. The Government has continued the Safe Places program, to increase crisis or emergency accommodation places for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, women and children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, and women and children with disability. The Government has also provided investment to support homelessness services through the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, alongside developing a new National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
Helped ensure women don't have to choose between their work and their safety by amending the Fair Work Act 2009 to introduce an entitlement to 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave.
Supported migrant and refugee women who experience violence by expanding family violence provisions within the Migration Regulations 1994, supporting visa holders experiencing domestic and family violence. The Government is also establishing a Forced Marriage Specialist Support Program.
Invested in frontline services for women experiencing domestic and family violence, extending the National Partnership on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses to provide $159 million for an additional 2 years and funding 500 frontline service and community workers, with support targeted to women and children in rural, regional and remote areas; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; the culturally and linguistically diverse community; women with disability; and the LGBTIQA+ community.
Supported a range of early intervention efforts to address violence, engage with men and boys and stop violence escalating, through a healthy masculinities project trial to combat harmful gender stereotypes perpetuated online; funding a new national early intervention trial for young men and boys who present with adverse experiences, including family and domestic violence, and who are at risk of perpetrating family, domestic or sexual violence; funding No to Violence for the Men's Referral Service and Brief Intervention Service; developing a perpetrator risk assessment framework for frontline service providers; extending the MensLine Changing for Good service; and developing a national perpetrator referral database of services to improve uptake of intervention services. Funding is also being provided to partner with states and territories to trial innovative responses to address the behaviour of perpetrators.
Improved data and reporting on domestic, family and sexual violence, by establishing a new statistical dashboard to provide more timely reporting on intimate partner homicide, to be introduced by mid-2024, and by working with states and territories to improve data sharing and support women's safety through the Data and Digital Ministers Council and Women and Women's Safety Ministerial Council.
Released the National Principles to Address Coercive Control in Family and Domestic Violence, to inform more effective and consistent responses to family and domestic violence.
Invested in actions to prevent and respond to technology-facilitated abuse, including through the Preventing Tech-based Abuse of Women Grants Program; a National Roundtable on Online Dating Safety to improve safety for Australians using online dating platforms; and establishing the Online Harms Ministers Meeting to coordinate policy across the Australian Government to address online harms experienced by Australians.
Committed to establish a National Student Ombudsman, as part of an Action Plan to address gender-based violence in higher education, which has been agreed with state and territory Education Ministers.
Supported the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission to promote coordination across government and communities, monitor progress of the national plan, and amplify the voices of people with lived experience, including by establishing a lived experience advisory committee.

New investments in the Budget 2024-25

Invested in financial support for victim-survivors leaving a violent intimate partner relationship and providing support services for up to 12 weeks, with $925.2 million for the permanent Leaving Violence Program.
Bolstered the evidence base by establishing an independent rapid review of prevention approaches to end gender-based violence. The Commonwealth Government established the review in May 2024, led by six experts, with a mix of skills to draw together advice and identify opportunities to strengthen prevention efforts and approaches across all forms of violence against women and children, including a particular focus on homicides.
The report from the independent rapid review of prevention approaches to end gender-based violence, Unlocking the Prevention Potential: accelerating action to end domestic family and sexual violence, was released on 23 August 2024.
Strengthened complaints avenues for higher education students by investing $19.4 million over two years to establish a National Student Ombudsman as an ongoing function of the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The National Student Ombudsman will allow higher education students to escalate complaints about the actions of their higher education provider, including complaints relating to gender-based violence, if they are unsatisfied with their provider’s response. It is expected to start taking complaints on 1 February 2025, subject to passage of legislation.
Committed $18.7 million over four years from 2024-25 to introduce the National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence. The National Code will establish a new set of best practice standards to ensure higher education providers embed a whole-of-organisation approach to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.
Invested $6.5 million in 2024-25 for an age assurance trial to protect children from harmful online content
Enhanced safe places for women and children to stay and recover by providing outreach trauma-informed healthcare in women’s crisis accommodation and services.
Targeted the $1 billion increase to the National Housing Infrastructure Facility to better support housing for women and children experiencing domestic violence and for youth.
Supported remote housing by entering into a 10-year remote housing agreement with the Northern Territory Government to reduce overcrowding in remote Northern Territory communities.
Strengthened legal assistance by investing $44.1 million to support the National Legal Assistance Partnership and Family Violence Prevention Legal Services, including one-year indexation supplementation to the funding for Legal Aid Commissions, Community Legal Centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and additional funding to address community legal sector pay disparity.
Provided a further $11.7 million to extend the First Nations Family Dispute Resolution pilot to support culturally safe family dispute resolution services.
Invested in domestic and family violence support for refugee and migrant women as part of the Settlement Engagement and Transition Support (SETS) program and funded a specialised visa support service in the Department of Home Affairs to assist temporary visa holders who experience violence to regularise their visa status.
Bolstered information sharing by funding the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) to support enhanced collaboration and information sharing through the continued integration of state and territory law enforcement agencies into the National Criminal Intelligence System.
Strengthened firearms safety by investing $161.3 million to develop and implement a National Firearms Register to keep the community and frontline police officers safe.
Expanded the Perpetrator Research and Evidence Base with a $4.3 million investment to commission Australia’s National Research Organisation (ANROWS) for Women’s Safety to further build the evidence base on pathways into and out of perpetration of family, domestic and sexual violence.

New investments in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2024-25

This includes funding that is a component of the $4.4 billion Commonwealth package agreed at National Cabinet on 6 September 2024.

Invested $3.9 billion over five years (from 1 July 2025) to support frontline legal assistance services through the new National Access to Justice Partnership (NAJP). States and territories will administer funding in accordance with Commonwealth priorities including combating gender-based violence against women and children.
Provided an additional $534.5 million over six years, bringing total investments to support women’s safety and the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–32 to $4.0 billion since the 2022–23 October Budget.
Provided more than $350 million (indexed) in Commonwealth investment over five years, commencing from 1 July 2025 including $1 million for an independent evaluation to support frontline services for victim survivors, with a focus on specialist services for women; services to support children exposed to family, domestic and sexual violence to heal and recover; and working with those who perpetrate violence including investment in men’s behaviour change programs.
$82.4 million over four years from 2024–25 to strengthen responses to high-risk and serial perpetrators of family and domestic violence. This includes improving information sharing across systems and jurisdictions, and intervening earlier to stop violence escalating.
$81.3 million over six years from 2024-25 to enhance and expand child centric trauma informed supports for children and young people to help break the cycle of violence, with a specific focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. This funding includes working with sector experts to identify gaps in supports for children and young people with experiences of violence, to inform the design and implementation of new and revised interventions.
Provided funding to establish national standards for men’s behaviour change interventions.
Commenced an audit of key Commonwealth government systems to identify areas where they are being weaponised by perpetrators of family and domestic violence.
Provided funding to review and update the National Framework for action to preventing alcohol-related family violence to address the role of alcohol and other drugs in exacerbating violence
Strengthened privacy protections for all Australians through reform and implementing a new statutory tort to address serious invasions of privacy, as well as introducing a new criminal offence to outlaw doxing, the malicious release of personal data online.

Priority area 2: unpaid and paid care

An alarm on a stack of books and the silhouette of an adult with two children

Improved and extended paid parental leave, investing $1.2 billion over 5 years to make the scheme more accessible, flexible and gender equitable, and increase the length from 20 to 26 weeks by July 2026, with 4 weeks reserved for each parent and up to 4 weeks that parents can take together. The Government also completed a review of the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1973 in 2023.
Made it easier and cheaper for parents to access early childhood education and care (ECEC) by investing $4.7 billion, including to increase Child Care Subsidy rates for families earning less than $530,000 with children in care. The Government also supported the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) inquiry into the cost of child care, and the Productivity Commission inquiry to undertake a broad review of the child care system. Families with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were also provided with access to a minimum level entitlement of 36 hours per fortnight of subsidised ECEC from July 2023.
Developed the Early Years Strategy 2024-2034, outlining the Government’s vision to best support children and their families in the early years.
Funded the Fair Work Commission’s decision for a 15 per cent award wage increase for aged care workers providing direct care, investing $11.3 billion. The Government recognises that aged care work is complex and undervalued and that an award wage increase will support the workforce, which is overwhelmingly made up of women.
Establishment of an Expert Panel on the Care and Community Sector in the Fair Work Commission.
Invested to address acute bottlenecks in the psychology training pipeline, with 80 per cent of psychologists being women.
Expanded the Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans Scheme to provide interest-free loans of up to $24,492 in areas such as early childhood education, aged care and disability care; and supported the delivery of the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan.
The new 5-year National Skills Agreement includes up to an additional $2.4 billion to support state and territory training systems including in critical industries such as essential care services.

New investments in the Budget 2024-25

Invested $1.1 billion over four years from 2024-25 (and $0.6 billion per year ongoing) to pay superannuation on Government-funded Paid Parental Leave from 1 July 2025. Eligible parents with babies born or adopted on or after 1 July 2025 will be able to receive an additional payment equivalent to the superannuation guarantee as a contribution to their nominated superannuation fund.
Reinforced the value of care work through the introduction of a Commonwealth Prac Payment, providing financial support for students undertaking mandatory placements (nursing and midwifery, social work and teaching), to help address workforce shortages in key feminised industries.
Enhanced support for carers and parents by modifying Carer Payment employment participation limits from 25 hours per week to 100 hours over a four week period and implementing other changes to reduce barriers to workforce participation for recipients, who are mostly women. Additional support for the Raising Children Network, the Fathering Project, and the Brave Foundation’s Supporting Expecting and Parenting Teens Program.

New investments in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2024-25

Supported a 15 per cent wage increase for eligible ECEC workers phased in over two years through a Worker Retention Payment, investing $3.6 billion over four years from 2024-25. Women will particularly benefit from this increase as they represent approximately 92 per cent of workers in the sector.
$1.0 billion for the Building Early Education Fund, informed by the Productivity Commission’s and the ACCC’s work on early education, to establish new ECEC services and expand the capacity of existing services, including in the regions and outer suburbs (where possible, services will be located on or near school sites).
Replaced the Child Care Subsidy activity test with a new 3-Day Guarantee from January 2026, subject to the passage of legislation, with $426.7 million over five years from 2024-25. Child Care Subsidy eligible families will have access to three days per week (72 hours per fortnight) of subsidised ECEC and Child Care Subsidy eligible families caring for an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander child will be entitled to 100 hours of subsidised ECEC per fortnight. Families can still get 100 hours of subsidised ECEC per fortnight if they meet participation requirements or have a valid exemption.
Invested $10.4 million over three years from 2024–25 to develop an Early Education Service Delivery Price to better understand the cost of providing services around the country and underpin future reform.
Supported the Fair Work Commission’s decision to further increase the award wages of aged care workers from 1 January 2025. Investing a further $3.8 billion over four years, building on the $11.3 billion already allocated, to support the 15 per cent award wage increases for aged care workers providing direct care. These award wage increases will particularly benefit women, who make up over 80 per cent of the aged care workforce.
Established a Carer Advisory Committee to guide the implementation and evaluation of the National Carer Strategy 2024-34 and accompanying National Carer Action Plan 2024-2027 (the Action Plan), with $1.6 million over 12 years from 2024-25. The National Carer Strategy sets the direction for Commonwealth efforts to improve the lives of unpaid carers, including to support their health and wellbeing and enable them to remain connected to economic and social opportunities. The Action Plan addresses priority areas of the Strategy and delivers practical and vital additional supports for carers.
Extended the Carer Inclusive Workplace Initiative to 30 June 2026 to assist employers to develop and adopt practices which support employees with caring responsibilities to enter and remain in the workforce.

Priority area 3: economic equality and security

A house next to three building blocks stacked with coins

Delivered tax cuts through a gender lens to support participation and deliver a fairer share of tax relief and a tax cut for all women who pay tax.
Put gender equality at the heart of economic policy and decision-making through the re-introduction of gender responsive budgeting and gender impact assessments to the Commonwealth Budget process, and making gender equality a priority at the 2022 Jobs and Skills Summit, and in Working Future: the Australian Government's White Paper on Jobs and Opportunities.
Established a Women's Economic Equality Taskforce to provide advice to Government on key priorities for the 2023–24 Budget and recommendations for immediate and long-term actions in its final report, Women's Economic Equality: A 10-year plan to unleash the full capacity and contribution of women to the Australian economy 2023–33.
Put gender equality at the heart of the workplace relations system, making gender equality an objective of the Fair Work Act 2009, banning pay secrecy, legislating a statutory equal remuneration principle and establishing an Expert Panel on Pay Equity in the Fair Work Commission. The Government has introduced new protected attributes in the Fair Work Act 2009 on breastfeeding, gender identity, subjection to family and domestic violence, and intersex status. The Government is providing funding for the Fair Work Commission to undertake a review of modern awards with priorities including consideration of the impact of workplace relations settings on work and care, and consideration of the need to improve access to secure work across the economy. The Fair Work Commission is also conducting a research project about occupational segregation and gender undervaluation. The Government introduced changes to unpaid parental leave to complement improvements to the Government's Paid Parental Leave Scheme and help families share work and caring responsibilities.
Improved support for women through the payments system, including the $1.9 billion expansion in the eligibility of the Parenting Payment Single to single principal carers, the majority of whom are women, with a youngest dependent child aged 8 to under 14 years of age. The Government has also provided $2.7 billion to increase the maximum payment rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by 15 per cent for all recipients, with single women making up the largest proportion of recipients, and provided $4.9 billion to increase support for people receiving working age and student payments, including JobSeeker.
Made the child support scheme fairer by implementing legislation to improve the timely collection of child support owed to parents – who are overwhelmingly women – and help prevent future debt among low-income parents. The Government is building the evidence base for longer term improvements, looking at issues like noncompliance as a means of financial abuse, whether the child support formula reflects the current costs of raising children in Australia, and what can be done to support parents where private collect arrangements have broken down.
Announced the abolishing of the ParentsNext Program and the development of a replacement voluntary program was introduced on 1 November 2024. As a first step, compulsory aspects of ParentsNext were paused from 5 May 2023.
Improved transparency and reporting on the gender pay gap, passing legislation to give effect to a range of recommendations from the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 Review, including to publish gender pay gaps of employers with 100 or more workers – these were reported for the first time on 27 February 2024.
Invested in feminised industries to improve women's wages, including $560 million to support community sector organisations to meet additional cost pressures and through the Government's changes to indexation, including for organisations delivering women's safety initiatives. The Government has also introduced reforms so that, from 1 July 2026, employers are required to pay their employees' superannuation at the same time as their salary and wages, which overwhelmingly benefits women in service industries.
Supported women's representation and opportunities in traditionally male-dominated industries through the Australian Skills Guarantee, which includes national targets for women in apprenticeships, traineeships and cadetships. The Government is also investing in Australia's vocational education and training (VET) system and addressing skills shortages; commissioned an independent Pathway to Diversity in STEM Review to evaluate existing women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs, which made recommendations on 13 February 2024 on the most effective approaches to improve equity and representation of women and other under-represented groups in STEM education and work; and also provided further funding for the Women in STEM and Entrepreneurships Grants program. The Government is supporting new digital career opportunities in the Australian Public Service (APS) through the APS Digital Traineeship Program, which supports priority groups – including women returning to the workforce or seeking a career change – to undertake a Certificate IV qualification and is funding support for women in male-dominated trade apprenticeships. Through its Cyber Security Strategy, the Government has committed to improving diversity of the cyber security workforce and established a workstream for industry leaders to develop initiatives to improve the diversity of the cyber workforce. The Government has also released a Women in Aviation Initiative to improve retention in the industry and increase visibility and awareness of the sector among girls and women, and is working with states and territories regarding options to increase women's participation in major Commonwealth-funded infrastructure projects.
Supported women's access to housing, through the $2 billion Social Housing Accelerator and the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement. The Home Guarantee Scheme has already helped over 13,000 women buy their own home since May 2022.
Invested in fee-free TAFE, supporting almost 300,000 students to enrol in 2023 (to 30 September) and making a further 300,000 places available.
Invested up to $12.6 billion over 5 years through the National Skills Agreement, to support state and territory training systems and address national challenges such as sustaining essential care services, and to deliver reforms, for example to improve VET completions, including for women and others who face completion challenges.

New investments in the Budget 2024-25

Eased cost-of-living pressures through greater tax relief to low- and middle-income taxpayers from 1 July 2024. 90 per cent of women taxpayers received a bigger tax cut than under previously legislated settings at an average additional benefit of $707 and further eased pressure by an increase to all Commonwealth Rent Assistance maximum rates by 10 per cent.
Introduced fairer student loans by capping indexation of Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) and other student loans to the lower of the Consumer Price Index or Wage Price Index to wipe around $3 billion in debt, with a significant benefit for women, who hold around 60 per cent of HELP debts.
Increased opportunities to access jobs and careers of the future by supporting a thriving, skilled and diverse STEM workforce in response to the Pathway to Diversity in STEM Review, with $38.2 million over eight years to scale up diversity in STEM and science engagement programs.
Improved women’s participation in key male-dominated industries and sectors of construction, clean energy, advanced manufacturing and digital and technology. The Building Women’s Careers program will establish partnerships to advance structural and cultural change to improve women’s access to flexible, safe and inclusive training and work opportunities, investing $60.6 million over four years from 2024-25.
Supported families in crisis through investment in the Outcomes Fund to focus on families and children to prevent cycles of intergenerational and community disadvantage, barriers to employment and inclusive employment models, and housing needs of vulnerable and homeless Australians and moving beyond short-term crisis care.
Created jobs in remote Australia by establishing the Remote Jobs and Economic Development Program to create 3,000 jobs and support income support recipients move into paid employment.
Bolstered evidence by delivering an enhanced annual General Social Survey to support Measuring What Matters.
Supported Community Hubs to continue delivering conversational English classes to support migrant and refugees.
Strengthened information and education activities for migrant workers by providing appropriate information about workplace safeguards, protections and compliance measures related to migration laws.

New investments in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2024-25

Worked to accelerate closing the gender pay gap by reducing gender segregation and helping to address workforce shortages by supporting more women to pursue careers in key high-demand industries. This includes progressing work on the design and implementation of the Future Made in Australia Community Benefit Principles to promote safe and secure jobs and develop more skilled and inclusive workforces, including for women.
Invested $16.4 million over two years to pilot workforce and industry-level initiatives to improve gender equality in gender-segregated industries, occupations and workplaces, particularly male-dominated industries. This will support the Government’s workplace relations reforms to make workplaces safer, more respectful and more equitable.
Made Fee-Free TAFE an enduring feature of the national vocational education and training system, which will fund 100,000 free TAFE places a year from 2027, subject to the passage of legislation. Fee-Free TAFE is targeted towards priority cohorts including women facing economic insecurity, women undertaking study in non-traditional fields, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, unpaid carers, and people with disability. From January 2023 to September 2024, Women made up 62 per cent of enrolments in Fee-Free TAFE.
Made the HELP and student loan repayment system fairer. Announced a marginal repayment system and removal of 20 per cent of outstanding student loans from 1 June 2025, subject to the passage of legislation.

Priority area 4: health

Established the National Women's Health Advisory Council to provide advice to the Government on priority health issues for women and girls in Australia.
Invested in women's reproductive health through a $58.3 million package for endometriosis and pelvic pain, including the delivery of 22 Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinics across all states and territories and investing in the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to develop 'MenoPROMPT', a menopause assessment tool for women and general practitioners to improve perimenopause and post-menopause care.
Invested in support for positive body image, including for children to build and maintain positive body image and provided funding to enable Australians to continue to access support for eating disorders.
Supported women's health needs, introducing a new Medical Benefits Schedule (MBS) item to determine a patient's risk of recurrent breast cancer and expanding access to critical drugs for treating women's cancers on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS). The Government is also providing funding for the Glen for Women, which provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women with culturally appropriate alcohol and other drug treatment services.
Invested in pregnancy and peri-and post-natal support, including to extend the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood's role to maintain and expand delivery of donor milk across Australia, and to support the Australian Breastfeeding Association's National Breastfeeding Helpline. Funding is being provided for 12 new perinatal mental health centres across Australia and to expand the pregnancy and postnatal guidelines for expectant parents, including resources for healthcare workers supporting culturally and linguistically diverse people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Government is also enhancing support for bereaved parents, and increasing the number of autopsies and investigations undertaken after a stillbirth. Support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers is provided through a dedicated Birthing on Country Centre of Excellence to be built in Nowra, NSW.
Improved access to medical support and advice, by introducing a new MBS item for consultations of 60 minutes or more, which are often used by women, to support improved access and affordability for patients with chronic conditions and complex needs.
Invested in research and data lead by women health researchers, creating targets for the NHMRC to award equal numbers of Investigator Grants to women and men, leading to 2023 being the first year that women applicants will receive an overall greater proportion of the funds, and investing in health and medical research and data collection focusing on women's and girls' health outcomes.

New investments in the Budget 2024-25

Invested over $160 million in women’s health including: introducing MBS items for longer consultations for patients with complex gynaecological conditions (such as suspected endometriosis); a review of the MBS items used for long-acting reversible contraceptive insertion and removal and a review of gendered differences in MBS items for diagnostic imaging services by the MBS Review Advisory Committee (MRAC); supporting the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation to provide free period products, support for women and their families who have suffered miscarriage and pregnancy loss, and develop strategies in participating maternity services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to prevent preterm and early term birth; monitoring the National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan 2020-2030 and the continued delivery of the Every Moment Matters awareness campaign to reduce rates of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder; supporting the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to develop a dataset on sexual and reproductive health, and a miscarriage data scoping study; funding a national audit of early pregnancy assessment service clinics; developing an interactive contraception decision making tool to support placements for health professionals to undertake an accredited Managing Menopause course; training for health professionals on long-acting reversible contraceptives; expanding indemnity insurance for privately practicing midwives; and adding abemaciclib (Verzenio®) to treat early breast cancer to the PBS.
Bolstered high quality and tailored maternity care through funding to implement the remaining recommendations from the MBS Review Taskforce Participating Midwives Reference Group Report to promote flexible, high quality and tailored maternity care.
Invested in research into women’s health priorities including menopause, pregnancy loss and infertility through the updated Medical Research Future Fund 10-year Investment Plan.

New investments in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2024-25

Listed a number of treatments on the PBS to reduce health and medication costs for women, including Visanne® to treat endometriosis and expanded access to Enhertu® to treat patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-low unresectable or metastatic breast cancer.
Added a maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine to the National Immunisation Program, for eligible pregnant women from 28 weeks, funded by an investment of $174.5 million over four years from 2024-25.
Supported ten existing Birthing on Country services to provide continuity of care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and babies, with $9.9 million in 2025-26.
Supported continued perinatal mental health screening across public antenatal and postnatal care settings, with $5.3 million in 2025-26.
Supported bereaved parents by maintaining the number of perinatal pathologists to perform stillbirth autopsies and the perinatal loss workforce, with $4.8 million provided in 2025-26.
Improved health outcomes through preventative and other health initiatives, including the extension of funding for research and critical patient support services for Australians with chronic conditions, including diabetes and stroke, and for newborn bloodspot screening programs. The $187.9 million provided will positively benefit women as they are more likely to have at least one of 10 selected chronic conditions than men in Australia (52 per cent to 47 per cent).
Continued delivery of the Every Moment Matters awareness campaign to support women who are planning pregnancy to achieve alcohol-free pregnancy, with $5.1 million provided in 2025-26.
Extended funding to the Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, enabling them to continue providing pasteurised donor human milk to premature babies in neonatal intensive care units or special care units across hospital networks, with $3.1 million provided in 2025-26.
Continued to support the Australian Breastfeeding Association’s National Breastfeeding Helpline, to provide a free-call support line for breastfeeding women and their families, with $2.6 million provided in 2025-26.
Extended a range of actions to reduce the stillbirth rate in Australia and to ensure high quality care is provided to families who experience stillbirth, with $2.3 million provided in 2025-26.
Funded the University of New South Wales for the maintenance and improvement of the YourIVFSuccess website, to support Australian couples with independent advice and information on in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) clinics, with $0.6 million provided in 2025-26.
Extended the Commonwealth Psychosocial Support Program for a further two years, with $272.1 million provided over two years from 2025-26. This will assist around 25,000 people living with severe mental health challenges to receive day-to-day living supports.
Provided $4.0 million in 2025–26 to continue the Australian Longitudinal Study on Male Health, including data, analysis and reporting on health and wellbeing of Australian men and boys.

New investments announced on 9 February 2025

$573.3 million to deliver improved healthcare access and affordability for women and girls

Made it easier for women in Australia to access and afford long-acting reversible contraception, one of the most effective and reliable methods of contraception, with $169.2 million.
Improved access to more effective and high-quality models of care for endometriosis and pelvic pain and perimenopause and menopause management and support, with $64.5 million.
Supported women’s Health Trials through pharmacist services for the treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI) and supply of hormonal contraceptives for concession card holders, with $103.3 million.
Listed more medicines on the PBS to provide women with increased access to cheaper medicines. The oral contraceptive pills, Yaz and Yasmin, and menopausal hormone therapy Estrogel, Prometrium and Estrogel Pro will be listed from 1 March 2025, with $236.3 million.

Priority area 5: leadership, representation and decision-making

A cut-out figure in a dress on a wooden block

Lifted Australia's overall ranking in the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report to 26th out of 146, compared to 43rd in 2022.
Improved representation of women in parliament, as the first majority woman Commonwealth Government. In the 47th Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia 44.5 per cent of seats across both chambers are held by women – the highest recorded number of women in an Australian parliament.
Invested to equip and encourage women across the political spectrum to run for public office at local, state and federal levels, providing $5 million to Women for Election Australia.
Increased the representation of women on Australian Government boards to a record 51.6 per cent in 2023.
Supported an increase in nominations of women for the Order of Australia, leading a targeted communications campaign to encourage more nominations for women. Women made up more than 50 per cent of award winners for the first time since 1975 at the Kings Birthday Honours in 2023, then again in the Australia Day 2024 Honours List.
Supported representation of women and girls in sport, through establishing the $200 million Play our Way program to promote equal access, building more suitable facilities, and supporting grassroots initiatives to get women and girls to engage and participate in sport throughout their lives. The Government is also developing a national sports plan, which envisions enhancing diversity, inclusion and equity in sport for all Australians, including women and girls, and supporting women's and girls' participation in talent and development programs to increase female representations in coaching, officiating and sports administration. To help protect sporting participants against discrimination, abuse and mistreatment, the Government is establishing a Safety in Sport Division for Sport Integrity Australia.
Implemented a transparent and merit-based judicial appointments process which ensures all candidates from a diversity of backgrounds have the opportunity to apply, in response to recommendations under the Australian Law Reform Commission's report, Without Fear or Favour: Judicial Impartiality and the Law on Bias.
Endorsed the Equal by 30 campaign to work towards equal pay, leadership and opportunities for women in the clean energy sector.
Established a new Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces to ensure creative workers are paid fairly and have safe workplaces free from harassment and discrimination.
Supported delivery of Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women's Voices), which was led by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, June Oscar AO.
Been a committed global champion of the United Nations Women, Peace and Security agenda, which aims to ensure equal participation of women at all levels of decision-making.

New investments in the Budget 2024-25

Advanced women’s leadership and representation by introducing new targets for Australian Government Boards and for Chair and Deputy Chair positions and board positions at the portfolio level.
Established the Working for Women Program to fund key partnerships to engage with women and the Australian community on gender equality, and further support the inclusion of women’s voices and experiences in policy-making.
Strengthened reporting on women-led business by implementing a voluntary Commonwealth Supplier Registration process through AusTender, giving Government the ability to measure and analyse women-owned and led businesses.
Bolstered the legacy of women’s sport by investing in the delivery of the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup 2026 and Netball World Cup 2027, increasing Sport Integrity Australia’s capacity to address contemporary challenges to make sport safe for all participants from grassroots to elite levels and through investment in Play Well priority and capacity sector activities. This aligns with the National Sport Strategy 2024-2034, which recognises sport has an important role to ensure individuals from all backgrounds, genders and abilities can access the health, social and economic benefits of sport.

New investments in the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2024-25

Supported representation of women and girls in sport by providing $15.0 million over two years from 2024-25 to Football Australia for the delivery of the Women’s Asian Cup 2026 to be held in Australia.
Increased representation of women on Australian Government boards. As at 30 June 2024, women held 54 per cent of positions on Australian Government boards, the highest overall result since reporting began in 2009.