2023 NSW Election Campaign
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WEL 2023 NSW Election Campaign Policies
This NSW election offers an opportunity for all major parties to commit to policies which promote genuine gender equality. WEL urges collaboration with the current Federal Government in relation to its highly welcome initiatives on issues affecting women. State governments have a vital role to play in funding and in providing critical on the ground services in areas such as health, domestic violence, housing and early childhood education.
In issuing our policy demands, WEL acknowledges the particular disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. WEL supports the call by the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Women’s Alliance for all governments to work together as well as with Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities to adopt policies, legislation and programs that have a cultural, holistic and rights-based approach to the empowerment and safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
The overarching context for all our policies is Australia’s response to the climate and environmental crises that we face. Environmental policy issues, as with all policy areas, need to be seen through a gender lens to understand who is affected and how. Women play a critical but often overlooked role in responding to natural disasters and are often most adversely affected, with fewer resources for recovery.
Diverse women can lead and shape the transformation to a more sustainable society yet women are under-represented in decision making about climate change and other environmental matters including in the leadership of key agencies in agriculture, forestry and fishing, electricity, gas and waste management, engineering and technology, and mining. A well-articulated and well-funded transition plan to renewables is needed that ensures that the jobs of the future will be more accessible to women.
Click through to view WEL’s policy demands
WEL 2023 NSW ELECTION SCORECARD
50 years ago in 1972, WEL first issued a challenge to the major political parties: do the right thing and act to ensure equality and justice for all women. Since then, WEL has held politicians to account by advocating for policies which tackle gender inequality and by assessing their actions rather than their words through guides such as our election scorecard.
For this election, WEL’s Scorecard is based on our key policy demands in women’s housing, domestic violence, health, early childhood education and care, consent education and women’s political representation. We measured each Party’s published election policies and announcements and any media statements we could capture and then we scored how well Party policies match our demands in each area as ‘minimal’, ‘some’, ‘significant’ or ‘full commitment’.
See WEL's full media release on the Scorecard here
WEL Full Analysis of Major Party's Policies