2009 Women’s Budget Statement
Other initiatives important to Women
The following initiatives are expected to benefit many women. For more details on each of them, see the Budget page at Treasury’s website, www. treasury.gov.au, or the Budget sections of the relevant department’s website.
Providing more choice in maternity care
The Government will provide $120.5 million to improve choice and access to maternity services for pregnant women and new mothers.
The new arrangements will allow eligible midwives working in collaboration with doctors to provide certain services subsidised by the Medicare Benefits Schedule and prescribe certain medications subsidised under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
The Government will also provide assistance for a professional indemnity insurance scheme for eligible midwives. To ensure that Australia maintains its strong record of safety and quality in maternity care, a safety and quality framework, including professional guidance and an advanced midwifery credentialing framework, will be developed.
The existing National Pregnancy Telephone Counselling Helpline will be expanded and improved to deliver a new 24 hour, seven days a week telephone helpline and information service to provide women, their partners and families with greater access to maternity information and support before and after the birth.
The measure will assist women in rural and remote areas by expanding the Medical Specialist Outreach Assistance Program to provide integrated outreach maternity service teams for women in under-serviced areas. The expanded teams will have obstetricians and/or registered midwives, registered maternal and child health nurses and/or allied health professionals such as dieticians and Aboriginal Health Workers. Further, funding will be provided for additional training for both midwives and general practitioners to expand the maternity workforce, particularly in rural and remote Australia.
The package will be implemented progressively from 1 July 2009 with new Medicare arrangements for midwives from 1 November 2010.
These arrangements are subject to agreement with States and Territories on a National Maternity Services Plan. State and Territory Governments will be asked to make complementary commitments and investments particularly around the provision of birthing centres and rural maternity units.
This reform sits alongside $3.2 billion to expand and modernise public hospital improving cancer facilities, research facilities and $134 million for a new Rural Health Workforce Strategy.
Breast cancer treatment
Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related death in women in Australia. The lifetime risk of women developing breast cancer before age 75 years is one in 11.20
The Government will provide $168 million over four years from 2009-10 to continue funding for the Herceptin® program. The program provides free access to Herceptin® for patients affected by late-stage metastatic breast cancer. This is in addition to $120 million over five years to replace BreastScreen Australia’s older equipment with state of the art digital mammography equipment.
The National Plan To Reduce Violence Against Women And Their Children
Nearly one in three Australian women suffers physical violence in their lifetime and almost one in five experiences sexual violence.21 The scope of the problem and its impacts on society are vast.
In May 2008, the Government established an 11 member National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children to advise on the development of an evidence-based plan of action. The Council conducted significant research, consulted over 2,000 Australians and developed five documents, including Time for Action: the National Council’s Plan for Australia to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2009-2021.
The Government supports the direction of Time for Action and has agreed to immediately progress 18 of the 20 priority recommendations at an initial investment of $42 million. The Government will refer Time for Action to the Council of Australian Governments so that all governments can collaborate to develop a nationally agreed plan to reduce violence against women in 2010.
The Government will immediately provide an initial $42 million including:
- $12.5 million for a new telephone and online crisis service;
- $23 million for primary prevention activities including respectful relationships programs social marketing; and
- $3 million to support research on perpetrator treatment and the greater harmonisation of federal and State and Territory laws.
The Government is also progressing law reform through the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General, including a national scheme for the registration of domestic and family violence orders.
Legal assistance services
Commonwealth funding for legal assistance programs over the next four years will be maintained and indexed for inflation.
On 9 May 2009, the Government also announced $20 million in additional one off funding in 2008-09 for legal assistance programs with a particular focus on enhancing coverage of services that promote early intervention and alternative dispute resolution. The Government’s one off funding in legal aid services includes:
- $10.1 million to fund Commonwealth legal aid services;
- $4 million for Community Legal Centres; and
- $6.2 million for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS).
Women are increasingly representing themselves in family law cases as they reach the funding limit for legal aid.22 It is anticipated that increased funding to the Community Legal Centres and Commonwealth legal aid services will enable these services to provide more support to women especially in family law cases where there has been domestic violence or abuse. The additional funding for legal aid commissions will address immediate pressures on service delivery and support measures such as improved mediation conferencing services, upgraded IT and video-conferencing equipment, and tailored training opportunities with a particular focus on mediation skills and family violence identification and management. The additional funding for Community Legal Centres will help disadvantaged Australians who require assistance in areas such as consumer protection, mortgage and tenancy issues, welfare rights, family and homelessness issues.
As part of the 2009-10 Budget, $7.56 million will be provided to ensure Indigenous legal services provided in the Northern Territory can respond to high levels of need. Indigenous women have been less likely to access mainstream legal aid services in metropolitan areas. Increased funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) will mean that more culturally appropriate services are available in remote, rural and urban areas.
Closing the Gap
The Government will provide $1.3 billion to continue driving its national reform agenda to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Initiatives include the following. 
- $310 million to support jobs and economic participation by Indigenous Australians, including through infrastructure and arts initiatives, and support for students and job seekers.
- $900 million to address disadvantage in remote Australia, including providing support for women and children in the Northern Territory, improving health services, and continuing funding for the National Indigenous Violence and Child Abuse Intelligence Task Force. This includes supporting 22 established safe houses and providing $9.1 million in operational funding for eight newly established crèches, capital and operational funding for a ninth crèche, and capital funding to upgrade two existing crèches.
- $99 million to provide support to improve the relationship with Indigenous people including through an Indigenous Healing Foundation and funding for Link-up services to help members of the Stolen Generations find and reunite with their families and communities.
This is in addition to the Australian Government’s $3.6 billion investment through the Council of Australian Governments National Partnerships in housing, health and employment. The Australian Government is also working to redesign income management in consultation with Indigenous communities so that it is consistent with the Racial Discrimination Act 1975.
The environment
The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) will be the Government’s major driver that guarantees emissions reductions. Every cent of revenue from the Scheme will be used to transition Australian households and businesses to a low pollution future. The Government’s Climate Change Action Fund, announced in the CPRS White Paper, is being augmented with an additional $300 million. The Fund will smooth the transition to a low-pollution economy by providing $2.75 billion in support for businesses, industry, community organisations, workers and regions. Households and families will also be assisted, with the Household Assistance Package providing a package of direct cash assistance and tax offsets to a range of low and middle income households.
Women are likely to be significant beneficiaries of support for low income families as lone mother families and single women pensioners are a significant proportion of low income households.23 Further, women commonly express more concern for the environment than men and put this concern into action in the household sphere.24
Migration Program and international development
Woman at Risk Visa
Within Australia’s migration program, the base target for the Woman at Risk category within the 2009–10 Humanitarian Program has been increased from 10.5 per cent to 12 per cent of the Refugee component. The Visa recognises the priority given by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to the protection of women in particularly vulnerable situations.
Since its inception in 1989, around 9,500 visas have been granted under the Woman at Risk category. The Woman at Risk component of the Humanitarian Program provides for the resettlement of vulnerable refugee women and their accompanying dependents who do not have the effective protection of a male family member.
International aid
The Budget includes several initiatives relating to the Australian international development assistance program. The aid program has an ongoing focus on gender equality and on helping marginalised and disadvantaged groups. The United Nations estimates that women constitute 70 per cent of the 1.3 billion people living in absolute poverty across the world.25
The 2009-10 Budget Policy Statement on Aid reiterates the Government’s commitment to fair development that is accessible and available to all. This is a goal in itself, but a fairer society, particularly to the extent that women have the opportunity to fully participate in society, also advances development.
The Government will provide $464.3 million over four years, with $38.7 million in 2009-10, to support increases in food production globally and strengthen the ability of countries in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa to address food insecurity. This measure will support vulnerable people to better withstand increases in food prices brought about from natural and economic shocks and will likely have a beneficial flow on effect for women.
Improving maternal and child health will also remain a priority, including through increasing access to family planning services, increased numbers of skilled birth attendants and the use of health performance incentives to ensure services reach vulnerable groups. Following a review, the Government has revised family planning guidelines for the development assistance program to support the same range of family planning services for women in developing countries as are supported for women in Australia, subject to the national laws in partner countries. Australia will also provide additional funding of up to $15 million over four years through United Nations agencies, bilateral programs and Australian NGOs for family planning and reproductive health activities to help reduce maternal deaths.
Notes
20Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report, 2004-2005, AIHW, Canberra, 2008and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Cancer in Australia: an overview, 2008, AIHW, Canberra, 2008.
21Australian Government, The National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women: Immediate government actions, Australian Government, 2009.
22Faculty of Law, Griffith University, ‘Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee Inquiry into Current Legal Aid and Justice Arrangements’, Parliament of Australia, Senate, Canberra, 2004.
23Australian Bureau of Statistics, Government Benefits, Taxes and Household Income, Australia, 2003-04, Cat. No. 6537.0, ABS, Canberra, 2007 and Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs unpublished analysis.
24A Ewers & G Galloway, ‘Expressed environmental attitudes and actual behavior: Exploring the concept of environmentally desirable responses’, paper presented at the International Outdoor Education Research Conference, La Trobe University Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, July 6-9, 2004.
25G Mongella, Women in a changing global economy: 1994 world survey on the role of women in development. United Nations Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, New York, 1995.
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