AUGUST 2024
Welcome to WEL-Informed, your bi-monthly newsletter with feminist updates and news about campaigns from WEL, the national, independent, non-party political, feminist advocacy group.
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New legislation to ‘detoxify’ Parliament – more is needed
Towards the end of a week when most members of the Opposition collectively ‘bayed’ at Teals MP Zali Steggall when she stood up to speak in the House of Representatives, the Government introduced the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Amendment (Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission) Bill.
This delivers on Recommendation 22 of ‘Set the Standard’, the Australian Human Rights Commission’s report into Commonwealth parliamentary workplaces initiated in March 2021 by the Morrison Government in the wake of the women’s marches around Australia and victims attesting to the toxic workplace culture in Parliament House.
The Inquiry, led by then Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins, revealed Parliament as an unsafe, hyper masculinised and often misogynistic workplace that was especially disabling for women. In Kate Jenkins words ‘a male-dominated and testosterone-fuelled culture’.
While the focus of the Inquiry was on the whole Parliamentary workplace, the spotlight was on the behaviour of parliamentarians. In the words of the report:
“The (Human Rights) Commission heard about the particular difficulty of sanctioning parliamentarians who engaged in misconduct, because they do not have an ‘employer’. As one participant put it ‘there are no ramifications for bad behaviour because there is no risk of MPs getting fired, or otherwise being held accountable for their actions’.”
The key recommendation in ‘Set the Standard’ was establishing a code of behaviour enforced by an Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission (IPSC). It will investigate complaints against parliamentarians, staff employed by them and workers in Parliament House, with powers to compel cooperation. It won't examine behaviour inside the chambers, such as that endured by Zali Steggall. Nor will it investigate behaviour by MPs at Estimates hearings.
In WEL’s view, there is a way to go for the Bill to enable a Parliamentary Commission with real teeth.
As currently proposed, the Commission will recommend sanctions if there has been a breach of standards but either the Senate or the House of Representatives Privileges Committee will ultimately decide on the sanctions and whether and what the public should know. In other words MPs will stand in judgement on MPs and determine the level of transparency.
Parliament next sits on 9 September. WEL will be contacting MPs to urge amendments to the Bill to enable recommendations and decisions where sanctions are involved to be made public, while protecting complainants.
Progress Report on the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032
Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commissioner Micaela Cronin tabled the Commission’s progress report on the Commission’s progress report on the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032 on 21 August (The Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission Yearly Report to Parliament, August 2024).
WEL applauds its recognition of the importance of embedding lived experience in policymaking including those from diverse populations. Its call for new data sources and measures is essential. It highlights the difficulties many services have with meeting demand, stressing that frontline services need more certainty through longer funding. It emphasises that men must be part of ending violence and that governments have a role in redefining masculinity and engaging men effectively. Workforce capability is seen as key to improving system responses including foundational training for a range of professions interacting with domestic violence services.
WEL will thoroughly analyse the report and how it relates to the just released Government’s Rapid Review of Prevention Approaches to end gender-based violence covered in our June newsletter.
National plans are important expressions of government commitments and objectives, but their implementation is paved with pitfalls, one of the deepest being a tendency to generalise solutions with responsibility shared by both governments and communities. This can result in a lack of focus on key drivers of violence. Experts are questioning the effectiveness of current approaches taken by primary prevention strategies. In particular, they are raising the issue of targeting all men and notions of masculinity without sufficient acknowledgement of socio-economic factors and excessive alcohol consumption as contributors to domestic and family violence.
WEL looks to the Government, which prides itself on evidence-based policy making and program design, to ensure that funds are targeted, not just to attitudinal change through community education, but also to legal and other measures that effectively reduce violence, including the acceptance that socio-economic factors and alcohol consumption may be central causes. WEL’s priority remains the adequate funding of all women’s refuges and domestic violence services as the front line for life saving support.
Prevention Approaches to End Gender-Based Violence: in need of ‘a surge of activity and investment’
The report of the expert panel undertaking the Rapid Review of Prevention Approaches to help stop gender-based violence was released on 23 August. ‘Un-locking the Prevention Potential: accelerating action to end domestic, family and sexual violence’ contains 21 detailed recommendations. It makes clear that the path ahead ‘does not involve tinkering at the edges, but instead requires a surge of activity and investment around people, responses and systems’.
Key recommendations are: establishing a five year Prevention Innovation Fund to resource and evaluate innovative prevention efforts; expanding the powers of the National Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence (DFSV) Commission and its establishment as a statutory body; recognising children and young people as victim-survivors in their own right complemented by an immediate emphasis on support and recovery; promoting healthy masculinities to counter the growing influence of online misogyny, and undertaking a needs analysis to determine unmet demand in DFSV crisis response, recovery and healing with consideration given to diverse needs and culturally appropriate and community led services.
It targets certain industries, such as alcohol, gambling, media and technology as well placed to prevent and reduce DFSV. It favours restrictions on alcohol sale and advertising and more restrictions on gambling advertising leading to a ‘total ban’. It recommends national standards for media reporting on gender-based violence ‘to prevent the perpetuation of harmful narratives that can escalate risk’.
WEL will be keen to hear the Government’s response to the report’s many thoughtful recommendations. The expert panel views them as flexible and practical requiring testing and co-design with the communities they are likely to impact. Unlocking the prevention potential will challenge ‘siloed ways of working’. WEL does not underestimate the overwhelming complexity and scale of the task. The panel has drawn on evidence and experience of decades of work and is projecting a way forward.
Universal early childhood education and care on the horizon?
WEL congratulates the Prime Minister on his 8 August announcement of a 15% wage rise for early childhood educators and carers from December 2024 - December 2025.
These pay rises will be fully funded by the Federal Government on condition that centres agree to limit fee increases to 4.4% over the year. We understand that pay increases are likely to be enhanced once the Fair Work Commission completes its review of wages in the caring professions in mid-2025.
WEL has long advocated for substantial pay increases for early childhood education and care workers as well as other workers in the care sector. WEL’s 2022 Policy Platform demanded a universal system of free early education and care underpinned by ‘Government action to boost pay, conditions, professional recognition and career pathways for early childhood educators and teachers’.
Acute shortages of ECEC educators due to low pay and limited career progression are a contributor to limited childcare availability, especially in rural and regional areas where there are ‘childcare deserts’.
WEL hopes that the 8 August announcement is a prelude to the Government’s commitment to a universal early childhood education and care system.
In the Draft Report of its Inquiry into Early Childhood Education and Care, the Productivity Commission noted that ‘a universal ECEC system means making quality services accessible to all children and families. Achieving a universal system will require tackling availability, affordability and inclusion gaps’.
The final Report of the Productivity Commission was handed to the Australian Government on 28 June 2024 but has not yet been released though the Government is required to table the report in each House of the Parliament within 25 sitting days of receipt. WEL’s expectation is that the Government will endorse the recommendations of the final Report, leading to a universal early childhood education and care system.
The end of Equality Rights Alliance (ERA): what next?
YWCA’s decision not to tender for the new round of contracts under the five year Government Grant for the Women’s Alliances means that ERA will end on 30 November this year. A 2023 evaluation of the National Women’s Alliances by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership found that the NWA model was effective in delivering women’s voice to government, noting that funding limits placed a heavy reliance on unpaid labour from the women’s sector, yet the Government appears to be seeking more value for its scant dollars by suggesting a consortia model.
WEL has written to Minister Gallagher expressing our disappointment with the inadequate funding allocated and emphasising ERA’s critical contribution to our national policy and campaign work. Over many years, ERA has been both effective and efficient in delivering advice through collaboration and consultation with its more than 70 member organisations.
The response from the Office for Women on behalf of the Minister was as predictable as it was disheartening. It touts a funding increase of 25%, but that merely accounts for a 5% indexation for each of the five years. It seems that the ERA model has been rejected in favour of one which focuses on supporting the implementation of the Government’s Working for Women: Gender Equality Strategy rather than providing a critical voice for the many women represented by numerous independent and non-party political civil society organisations.
Call for increased funding for Community Legal Centres
Community Legal Centres form an important part of domestic violence wrap-around services. They provide high quality, rights-based and integrated services to people in need.
Peak body Community Legal Services, Australia is campaigning for fair funding for the sector. It is seeking $35 million this year to address the workforce crisis facing centres, $95 million a year for frontline domestic and family violence work and at least $270 million annual funding for community legal centres from 1 July 2025.
WEL joins with Community Legal Services, Australia in its advocacy for a better funding model so that barriers to access justice for gender-based violence, racism and homophobia do not have enduring damaging impacts on people’s lives.
WEL welcomes AHRC Report on child justice
WEL welcomes the recommendations of the Australian Human Rights Commission report ‘Help way earlier!’: How Australia can transform child justice to improve safety and wellbeing, published 20 August, for reforming the treatment of children in the criminal justice system. The report particularly notes the importance of placing children at the centre of policy development and the delivery of services so that First Nations children, families and communities become major contributors to improving the system and respecting the rights of all children.
WEL attends Parliamentary Friends for Maternal Health event
In the June WEL-Informed, we reported on the NSW Birth Trauma Inquiry, which highlighted the short falls of our maternity system when it comes to the psychological, emotional and cultural safety of Australian mothers, particularly First Nations mothers and women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
On 15 August, Kristyn Begnell from WEL NCC attended the Parliamentary Friends for Maternal Health event on the land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples in Canberra titled ‘Improving Outcomes for First Nations Mothers and Babies in Australia’. The group is co-chaired by MPs Alicia Payne, Llew O’Brien and Dr Helen Haines. It provides opportunities for government and non-government organisations to meet with parliamentarians to raise awareness of issues that affect women during pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. This was the third event the group has held since September last year and it was well attended by consumer advocacy groups, MPs and MP advisors.
Professor Helen McLachlan spoke about the amazing outcomes of the Baggarrook Yurrongi program, which provides culturally safe maternity care to First Nations mothers and babies at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne. She highlighted the cost effectiveness of the program and shared testimonials from some of the women who gave birth through Baggarrook. [Aboriginal midwife program works to close the gap in infant mortality and birth complications - ABC News]
We also heard from Aunty Gina Bundle, a Yuin/Monaro woman and the Program Coordinator of ‘Badjurr-Bulok Wilam’ – meaning ‘Home of many women’ in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri Peoples – at the Royal Women’s Hospital. We learned about what First Nations mothers valued the most about the care, with ‘Privacy and Confidentiality’ ranking highest at 98%.
The take-home point from the event was that when First Nations women have continuity of care with a known midwife and where hospital staff are trained in cultural safety, the outcomes for First Nations mothers and babies can be drastically improved. The Baggarrook program has been a huge success, and we encourage the replication of this model across the country to help close the gap for First Nations people.
Voices from the Crisis: speaking out about housing and homelessness
This year the housing campaign Everybody’s Home, launched in 2018 by a coalition of housing, homelessness and welfare organisations, convened a People’s Commission into the Housing Crisis, which heard from over 1,500 individuals and over 100 organisations affected by the housing crisis. The Commissioners have now released their final report. It highlights housing and homelessness issues affecting women that WEL has also been raising:
- Most women and children who flee violence don’t receive the support and housing they need to escape a violent home, with thousands returning to violent partners or becoming homeless each year.
- There is a big increase in First Nations people, especially women and girls seeking support for homelessness. There is a lack of secure and culturally appropriate housing for First Nations women experiencing domestic violence, a particularly significant driver of homelessness for First Nations women and children.
- Older people, particularly women, are struggling in the private rental market while waiting for housing.
- There is a lack of access to secure and appropriate housing for women exiting prison.
Read the full report ‘Voices of the Crisis’.
Essential reading: Toxic Parliaments and what can be done about them
Marian Sawer and Maria Maley’s well timed book ‘Toxic Parliaments and what can be done about them’ was launched at ANU on 29 July.
In their preface the authors explain how momentum for reform in four countries with Westminster systems - Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK - was created by the #MeToo movement and similar revelations in the parliamentary workplace.
As they put it: ‘These parliaments were characterised by extreme power imbalances between parliamentarians and staff and a lack of professionalised employment practices. Codes of conduct and independent complaints bodies were resisted on grounds of parliamentary privilege: the ballot box was supposedly the best means of holding parliamentarians accountable for their conduct. The taken-for-granted status of ‘adversarialism’ as the fulcrum of politics also rendered gendered mistreatment invisible’.
The book examines the different reform approaches taken in the four countries but focuses on the dramatic developments in Australia after angry women marched on parliament houses in 2021.
You can buy it or download it for free on Open Access HERE or ask your public library to order it in.
Professor Sawer’s excellent history of WEL, ‘Making Women Count’, is also worth checking out in your library.
Invitation to participate in the IAW meeting in Bulgaria, 6-7th September
The International Alliance of Women is holding its first face to face meeting since 2019 in Bulgaria this year and WEL members are invited to join the zoom live stream of the opening session on 6 September and a networking event on 7 September. Iliana Balanova will give the opening session keynote address. She is President of IAW’s new affiliate, Bulgarian Platform European Women’s Lobby, as well as President of the European Women's Lobby.
WEL has been an affiliate of the International Alliance of Women since 1981 and this is an opportunity for WEL members to see how it operates.
Contact Priscilla Todd at [email protected] for more information and the zoom links.
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