Budget 2008-09 > Women's Budget Statement 2008-09 > Women's Influence in Decision-making
Women's Budget Statement 2008-09 - Women's Influence in Decision-making
The Government is committed to developing and supporting women's leadership in every aspect of Australian society. Australia has appointed its first female Governor General and Deputy Prime Minister and has more women in the Ministry than ever before. Women, however, still account for only 30 per cent of members and senators in the Federal Parliament.
The Government supports and encourages women to contribute to the development and implementation of policies that affect their lives by supporting organisations that advocate on their behalf. The Government is building dynamic interactions with women's representative organisations to ensure women's perspectives and the diversity of women's needs influence the development of policies and programs in all areas of government, business and the community sector.
Budget and other measures
National Rural Women's Summit
While there are a significant number of rural and regional women's organisations, the Government recognises the need to strengthen the collective voice of rural women at the national level. The Government will host a National Rural Women's Summit in June 2008 to identify and discuss the scope of issues affecting rural women and their communities and consider recommendations to address these issues. Following the Summit, the Government will consider options to strengthen the capacity of rural women to participate in policy debate affecting their communities.
Supporting women's representation and leadership
The Government is also building a stronger and more dynamic program of engagement with women's non-Government organisations and is examining the existing National Women's Secretariat model which comprises of 69 women's representative groups. The evaluation has an emphasis on strengthening the voice of women from marginalised groups to influence policies that affect their lives and increasing the effectiveness of Government-funded women's groups in advocating effectively on behalf of all women.
