WEL INFORMED UPDATE
August / September 2026
Looking back on August 2026: women dominated the national conversation and not always in a good way
Women as sexual prey
Multiple incidents of horrendous sexual violence are currently being investigated by police. Especially troubling is data on the shift in the age of perpetrators of sexual violence to teenage boys with girls as the victims.
WEL’s submission to the Consultation on the Second National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2023 – 2032 asserts that preventing violence against women requires a holistic approach that addresses gendered and often misogynistic attitudes and behaviours, institutions and structures, alongside key risk factors such as alcohol-related harm and gambling.
Policy and programs need to be intersectional, evidence‑informed and measurable.
Embracing mutual respect and the human right to be protected from all forms of violence must sit at the heart of all human interaction and relationships. This is why WEL endorses a Human Rights framework for Australia as advocated by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), as fundamental in achieving gender equality and promoting the well-being of women and girls in Australia.
Women as carers
The Federal Government’s cutbacks to the NDIS and changes to assessment tools for aged care support at home has failed to consider the impact on women’s already disproportionate burden of care.
The government claims Cabinet in Confidence for its failure to publish a full gender impact assessment on the implications of the Disability Amendment Bill for women.
This is despite Katy Gallagher’s assurances in 2022 (as reported by Saturday Paper’s Kristine Zwica) that gender-responsive budgeting ‘will provide not just the Australian public with information about the impact of decisions, but it [also] provides information to the decision-makers before the decisions are taken about what those impacts will be’.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Dr Anna Cody was scathing: ‘The cuts will push more responsibility back onto carers, and women carry a greater share of this work... that then impacts on women’s ability to participate economically’. ’That’s of deep concern’ she added.
WEL is a member The Australian Women’s Health Alliance.
The Alliance is calling for the ‘reforms to be subject to a comprehensive, published gender impact analysis’ before implementation proceeds in its current form. As it points out, a gender-responsive approach to NDIS reform must consider not only its fiscal implications, but where care, cost and risk go when formal supports are reduced and who ultimately carries them.
26 August National Cabinet meeting
WEL welcomes National Cabinet’s reaffirmed commitment at its 26 August meeting ‘to accelerate efforts to keep women and girls safe’. That meeting also agreed on priorities for the Second Action Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children.
While the Second Action Plan under the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032; Safe and Supported; Our Ways - Strong Ways - Our Voices and the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030 are being finalised, the meeting further agreed to a number of urgent actions.
Nationwide commitment to the Action Plan is a critical step forward.
We support calls from some cross-benchers for greater accountability from states and territories for reporting on the impacts of funding under the plan.
We do note that states and territories must make progress reports later this year on such critical areas as sexual violence and judicial responses, respectful relationships education, men’s behaviour change standards, emergency accommodation and alcohol reforms. WEL will be monitoring these reports.
New directions including digital duty of care
On Wednesday 2 September at the National Press Club Chanel Contos detailed the case for reigning in harmful algorithms online, which she said were exposing young people to misogynistic manosphere content and fuelling the prevalence of sexual violence in Australia.
On 8 September the government issued draft legislation to implement a Digital Duty of Care in Australia under the Online Safety Act 2021 (the Act), aimed at online service providers. The draft recommends an ‘opt-out’ model where users can opt-out of their default, ‘curated’ algorithmically determined feed.
Algorithms are the automated systems used by social media platforms to decide which posts, videos and other content a user sees and in what order, based on factors such as their behaviour and apparent interests.
In her speech to the National Press Club and through her advocacy group Teach Us Consent Chanel Contos recommends an ‘opt-in’ model less susceptible to the technology companies’ manipulation.
She argued that an opt-out model would be a ‘first step’ and congratulated the government for seeking to address the issue. She added: ‘However, opt-in algorithms would fundamentally make the transition onto social media for 16-year-olds and other children safer, and it would bring the principle of affirmative consent to our screens’.
WEL will be reviewing this bill in the context of our policies on this issue and sexual violence generally.
Feminist journalists have excelled themselves in commentary and analysis. For a reflection on the events leading up to the National Cabinet meeting and their implications see Clare Armstrong’s analysis on the ABC website: ‘Algorithms, 'pervert glasses' and the scourge governments are struggling to end’.
WEL advocates for policies, programs and funding to those delivering services at multiple levels aimed at teaching young people about respectful relationships and consent. Such programs need to be mandated for all educational institutions.
And finally – we offer a tribute to Gloria Steinem who died on 2 September aged 92
Gloria Steinem never stopped believing women could change the world. Over the past week tributes have been pouring in for this American feminist icon, journalist and organiser.
Read more about how Steinem helped to establish the second wave women’s movement in the United States that influenced the growth of feminism in other liberal democracies including Australia.
WEL launched its first and highly successful 1972 campaign directly inspired by Steinem’s Ms. Magazine precedent of polling women and political candidates on where they stood on issues such as childcare, abortion and equal pay.
SUPPORT WEL'S WORK TODAY
Your donations will help us to build the capacity to field WEL voices in the media, organise face to face meetings with MPs and build our already large follower and membership base to put pressure on governments for more urgent action to end gender inequality.
WEL acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
{{broadcaster.name}}
{{settings.site.full_url}}