During May and June 2011, Equality Rights Alliance documented women’s experiences of Income Management in the Northern Territory. We want the views of women living with Income Management to be heard in public discussion of Income Management policy. Check out their report here.

Women’s groups have a specific seat in their own right at the upcoming Tax Forum and Marie Coleman of the National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) has been selected to represent the Equality Rights Alliance (ERA).

ERA and the NFAW are currently completing a commissioned project for the Office for Women on factors affecting women’s work-force participation, covering topics such as child care costs, equal pay, effective marginal tax rates and the tax and transfer system, and superannuation. Helen Hodgson of ATAX at the University of New South Wales is writing the associated technical paper.

The ERA/NFAW submission to the Tax Forum will draw on the consultations which have taken place  in July and August, and the views of women’s groups affiliated with ERA and Economic Security for Women, among other groups.

Close cooperation in preparing for the Forum is taking place with ACoSS and other bodies already invited. NFAW has also specifically nominated several women with solid feminist credentials and expertise in tax to the Treasury for places on the second tranche of invitations.

Research on tax and housing has been commissioned from The Australia Institute, and discussions are taking place with the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling.

Industrial Relations Minister Richard Della-Riva is reported as having rejected the claim that the largely female community services workforce is significantly underpaid.

The arguments being used suggest that the Victorian Government just isn’t interested in getting equal pay for Victorian women.

For example, the Victorian Government argues that it is the fault of women in the community services sector that they don’t do as well as women doing the same work in the government sector.

In fact, it is the fault of governments who are funding services.

• Governments know community sector employers cannot pass the costs of increased wages onto their elderly and disabled clients.

• They know the employees in the sector can be made to do without real wage increases year after year because they care about their clients.

• They know that this doesn’t apply to big public service departments.

• They know the work outside the public services isn’t being properly valued, and they know that the people who are losing out are overwhelmingly women.

The fact is, they don’t care.