MEDIA STATEMENT

13 May 2026

Budget misses a critical moment for women’s economic equality

The Women’s Electoral Lobby Australia (WEL) believes the 2026–27 Federal Budget drops the ball in the critical race to achieve women’s economic equality and long-term economic security.

WEL recognises the Albanese Government’s sustained and strategic commitment to gender equality.   The Prime Minister and key Government Ministers have grasped the mettle: support for women’s involvement in the economy could dramatically increase overall productivity and GDP.

Four successive budgets have made incremental investments in early education and care, paid parental leave, women’s health, prevention of and responses to violence against women, workplace equality, safety and flexibility, recognition of flexibility, and support for the care industry wage increases.   

The 2026–27 Budget has stalled this momentum. Paid parental leave will reach only half the OECD average of 12 months by 2026, with no commitment to go further. The Government also overstates the capacity of the new Support at Home program to reduce women’s unpaid care burden, while failing to address the reality that Australian women, particularly in rural and regional communities, continue to pay significantly more for essential healthcare, including abortion care, than women in comparable countries.

WEL knows that we face dangerous global instability, escalating economic pressures and fragmenting communities. Gender equality should be driving the Government’s agenda for economic resilience, productivity and social cohesion, not sitting at its margins.

Instead, much of the Treasurer’s ‘Productivity package’ harks back to the well-worn 1990’s budget agendas: deregulation, increased competition and cutting ‘red tape’.

Women do not live siloed lives. Yet this remains a siloed budget. Housing. Care. Health. Violence prevention. Income support. Migration. Work.

Women live in these systems every day. Their economic security is shaped by all of them. This is evident in the NDIS reforms and savings measures which will disproportionately impact women.

WEL National Convenor Kay Anastassiadis said the Budget failed to match the scale of inequality women continue to face.

“The Albanese Government has made important progress on women’s equality, but this Budget represents a missed opportunity to continue the momentum women in Australia needed to see and which underpins the Government’s Working for Women: - A Strategy for Gender Equality. We are unclear whether the Government has applied the Gender Lens across the portfolio budgets since the Women’s Budget Statement omits reference to this critical tool.

WEL welcomes several important initiatives in the Budget.

• $182.6 million to address weaponisation of the Child Support Scheme
  Financial abuse is violence. These reforms will strengthen women’s and children’s economic security.
• Paid Parental Leave expanding to six months from 1 July 2026
  Recognising care as work is critical to women’s workforce participation and long-term economic security.
• $4.7 billion in Cheaper Child Care and the 3 Day Guarantee
  Affordable early childhood education and care is essential economic infrastructure.
• $218.3 million for Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices
  First Nations women must lead solutions for First Nations communities.
• Additional funding for frontline domestic and family violence workers
  The additional $61.2 million for the 500 Workers initiative recognises the escalating pressure on frontline services.
• $59.4 million for community housing support for young people at risk of homelessness
  Young women are disproportionately represented in youth homelessness services.
• $44.4 million to continue Birthing on Country services
  Culturally safe, First Nations-led maternal care saves lives.
• Continued investment responding to technology-facilitated abuse
  Online misogyny, coercive control and digital violence are growing threats to women’s safety and participation.

But these measures do not add up to a coordinated economic equality framework for women. When systems fail to connect, women absorb the cost. A woman escaping violence may often be navigating insecure housing, unpaid care, low wages, trauma, disability, migration insecurity and rising living costs— all at once.

WEL strongly believes that creating an economy that fully utilises the capacity of Australian women is foundational to solving Australia’s intergenerational economic challenges.

WEL is calling for the next stage of reform to focus on:

• income adequacy and social security reform;
• universal, affordable and accessible reproductive health care;
• dedicated support for migrant and temporary visa women experiencing violence;
• further significant investment to match the horrific experiences of violence and death women face every day;
• fair recognition of unpaid care and its impact on women’s lifetime earnings;
• and gender-responsive budgeting embedded across every portfolio of government.

WEL National Convenor Kay Anastassiadis said women expected stronger structural reform at a moment of significant economic uncertainty. “All Australians are standing in the eye of the current storm together - cost of living, global economic situation- but many women are feeling the shock waves far more deeply. Government has missed a moment where its commitment to valuing women’s economic contribution and removing systemic barriers has fallen short.”

Women are not peripheral to Australia’s economy. Women’s labour underpins it.

ENDS

Media Contact:
Kay Anastassiadis, Convenor, National Coordinating Committee Women’s Electoral Lobby
E: [email protected] 
M: 0413 619 317