In 2024, gender is baked into the Federal Budget

The night after the 2024 Federal Budget, hundreds of people sat rapt in parliament’s Great Hall. But it was not the Treasurer or a CEO or a minister who had captured the attention of the country’s most influential business and political leaders. Instead, it was a brave single mother who lost everything when she and her daughters fled her abusive partner whose voice echoed through the halls of power. 

Belinda spoke of initially feeling “very broken” to more than 400 of Australia’s leading economic, political and corporate minds who gathered in the nation’s capital for the FW La Trobe Financial Federal Budget Dinner. The annual event provides a critical opportunity to cast a gender lens over the government’s spending plans and discuss what they might mean for women. 

Office for Women’s Padma Raman, Economist Dr Angela Jackson, Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh and  Managing Director of Nine Publishing, Tory Maguire, discuss what the budget means for women.

This year, as the country grapples with the reality of men’s violence, Belinda’s story was especially pertinent. She spoke of how domestic violence had left her out of work and living with her children in a friend’s garage. 

“I knew that my ability to move forward, to not end up being homeless and have all of those terrible things that you read about happen, came down to me getting a job,” she told a packed room, via video.

It was only when she joined FW Jobs Academy, a free and innovative program helping Australian women to return to work, that she turned a corner.

“For a very long time I was told I was crap at everything, and Jobs Academy made me feel like I wasn’t.” 

Belinda’s experiences brought into sharp focus the need for women to have economic security in order to seek personal safety. 

Anne Summers enjoying the FW La Trobe Financial Budget Dinner. Joint Minister for Finance and Women, Katy Gallagher, giving the keynote speech.

In her keynote address, Senator Katy Gallagher, who is Minister for Finance and Minister for Women, said “all of the initiatives that come before the budget are assessed through gender-responsive budgeting” but she said women’s safety had been given particular attention. She reiterated the government’s commitment to permanently funding the Leaving Violence Program, which will give women up to $5000 to help them escape an abusive partner. 

“[They are receiving] messages like ‘I know where the children are. I just saw you at the shops. I’m going to kill the dog’, Bligh said, adding that banks are now taking action to close perpetrators’ accounts.”

In a Q&A with FW’s Jamila Rizvi, Gallagher said the continued spotlight on men’s violence was providing “an opportunity to shift the discussion about women’s safety away from women and into [asking] how do we stop men perpetrating violence.” And she said the National Criminal Intelligence System is working with the police and justice systems to build programs that will help keep track of perpetrators and protect women. 

Anna Bligh speaking with FW’s Founder and Managing Director, Helen McCabe

Australian Banking Association CEO, Anna Bligh, who was part of a discussion panel on the night, pointed to work being done by her sector to fight financial and systems abuse. She explained how women can be targeted via the messaging system attached to child support payments.

“[They are receiving] messages like ‘I know where the children are. I just saw you at the shops. I’m going to kill the dog”, Bligh said, adding that banks are now taking action to close perpetrators’ accounts.

She said there’s also a trial underway in NSW in which banks are referring abusers to police, who can use the messages as evidence against them in court.

“If you don’t make progress on violence against women, balancing unpaid and paid care, women’s economic security, women’s health and women’s participation in decision-making and leadership, you’re not going to get to gender equality.”

Also on that discussion panel was senior economist, Dr Angela Jackson and Padma Raman, Executive Director of the Office of Women. Raman – a long-time advocate for gender equality – said “women don’t feel safe” and the country urgently needs to have “uncomfortable conversations” about men’s violence against women. 

Executive Director of the Office for Women, Padma Raman, taking part in the panel discussion

“Over 90 percent of Australians think domestic, family and sexual violence is a problem. Just over 45 percent of them think it happens in their backyard. So there’s this real disconnect between us. There’s a discomfort knowing it’s a problem, but not wanting to think it’s our brothers, our family members, our communities”.

Jackson said that while she was “fraught” to put an economic cost on family and domestic violence – “[because] we’re talking about people losing their lives” – she estimated it costs Australia about $50 billion a year, “and we don’t spend anywhere near that amount to prevent [it]”. She said until the country’s political and corporate leaders prioritise ending men’s violence “the family home will remain the least safe place for women to be”.

There was also focus on how the latest budget would impact women in the workplace. There was applause when Senator Gallagher outlined plans to fund superannuation for Australian public servants on paid parental leave. The minister also said women would be the biggest winners from changes to the carer’s payment and (as yet undisclosed) investments in the care economy, whose workforce is predominantly female and low paid.

Bligh, a former Queensland premier, gave the government points for structuring these initiatives in a way that they can’t easily be undone by successive governments. But Jackson lamented the lack of action on universal child care and the reluctance to increase JobSeeker payments in the budget.

“That we didn’t see another movement in that space last night was disappointing and I think for women in particular, remembering that the JobSeeker payment is very much linked to the single parenting payment and 70 percent of those recipients are in poverty [and] mostly women.”

Both Jackson and Raman spoke of the links between poverty and violence, with the Office for Women chief calling for multitudinal changes to give women the agency they need to build safe, successful lives.  

“If you don’t make progress on violence against women, balancing unpaid and paid care, women’s economic security, women’s health and women’s participation in decision-making and leadership, you’re not going to get to gender equality,” Raman said.

Now in its third year, the FW La Trobe Financial Federal Budget Dinner is proving increasingly popular, with Senator Gallagher describing it as “the budget event of the week”. 

Antonietta Sestito from La Trobe Financial says there is a growing awareness of the need to cast a gendered lens over government spending. 

“We get to explore women’s perspectives on the federal budget and celebrate the profound impact of women taking charge of their futures,” Antonietta Sestito, Chief People and Marketing Officer, La Trobe Financial.   

“The importance of this event is that it provides a personal platform to hear from some of the most influential women in our nation.”’

Photography credit: Ashley St George, Pew Pew Studio

With thanks to our Presenting Partner La Trobe Financial.