Budget Review 2021–22 Index
Harriet Spinks and Catherine Lorimer
The 2021–22 Budget is notable for the inclusion of a women’s
budget statement. Between 1984 and 2013 governments
usually produced a women’s budget document which highlighted measures that
would specifically promote the health, economic security, safety and wellbeing
of women in Australia. However, such a document was not produced between 2014
and 2020.
The women’s budget statement is likely in part a response to
concern about the gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and calls for gender-responsiveness
in the subsequent economic recovery stage—the lack of a gender lens,
particularly in the context of the impacts of the pandemic, was a key
criticism of the 2020–21 Budget. While the inclusion of women’s budget statement
has been welcomed by stakeholders, the statement itself has also been criticised
for not being a genuinely gender-responsive analysis of all budget measures and
policies, as was produced during the Hawke/Keating period. Similarly, while
funding for specific measures has been welcomed, critics
have pointed out that the Budget does not address the systemic and
structural issues that contribute to gender inequality.
The inclusion of the women’s budget statement should also be
seen in the context of recent campaigns around women’s safety at work and at
home following several
high-profile allegations of sexual assault, and increasing pressure driven
by the worldwide
‘Me Too’ movement. The announcement
in March 2021 of a new Cabinet Taskforce for women, and the creation of three
new Ministerial titles relating to women’s safety and economic security,
foreshadowed the Government’s intention to include a focus on women’s safety
and wellbeing in the 2021–22 Budget.
The Women’s Budget Statement, and the measures highlighted within
it, are built around three main pillars: women’s safety; women’s economic
security; and women’s health and wellbeing. This article focuses on the women’s
safety package, and briefly addresses the women’s economic security package,
although the child care measure, which forms the bulk of the women’s economic
security package, is discussed in a separate article.
Measures to promote women’s health and well-being are discussed in the
Library’s Budget Review article titled Health Overview.
Women’s Safety
The Budget provides just over $1 billion over five years for
a women’s
safety package, comprising measures to reduce family, domestic and sexual
violence (FDSV) against women and children, and support people who have
experienced such violence (pp. 83–85). Half of this funding ($507.3 million
over four years) will go to measures to directly support women and children who
have experienced FDSV. Primary prevention programs and education initiatives
will receive $92.4 million over four years, and $80.6 million will go towards
improved data collection and research capacity.
Around a third of the package ($320.1 million over four
years) is directed towards legal services and supports, including through the
National Legal Assistance Partnership, which is discussed in the Library Budget
Review article on Legal Aid and Legal Assistance Funding. In addition to the funding
in the Women’s Safety measure in Budget Paper No. 2, funding is also provided
under a separate measure
for reforms to the family law system (pp. 62–63). Some of the funding under
this measure (discussed further below) is included in the women’s safety
measures described in the Women’s Budget Statement.
The Ministers’
press release states that the Budget provides $1.1 billion for women’s
safety. The Women’s Safety measure contributes a little over a billion of this.
Other measures included in the Women’s Budget Statement under the umbrella of
‘women’s safety’ include some of the family law system measures (discussed
below), and implementation of the Government’s response to the Australian Human
Rights Commission’s Respect@Work
report. The latter includes $9.3 million over four years to support the
Respect@Work Council Secretariat (the Council was established
with funding in the 2020–21 Budget) and $6 million over four years to strengthen
reporting on sexual harassment prevalence, prevention and response.
The Women’s Safety measure is the latest in a series of funding
packages from this Government addressing women’s safety and FDSV over the last
several years, largely in the form of funding to support the National
Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children 2010–22 (the
National Plan). Previous packages, which combined have totalled around $900
million, include:
-
‘more than $100 million’ over four years for initiatives under
the Second Action Plan of the National Plan announced
in June 2014
-
$100 million for a Women’s
Safety Package, to support action being taken under the National Plan, announced in September 2015
-
an additional $100 million over three years in the 2016–17
Budget, to build on the 2015 women’s safety package
-
a $100 million package to support the Third Action Plan, announced
in October 2016
-
a $328 million package over four years for projects under the
Fourth Action Plan, announced
in March 2019 and
-
a further $150 million for a domestic violence response package, providing
additional support to frontline services in the context of the COVID-19
pandemic, provided
in 2020.
The current National Plan is due to expire in 2022, and the
funding supporting the Fourth Action Plan, which covers the period from 2019 to
2022 will
be largely disbursed by June 2022. The Women’s Safety measure in this
Budget has been described
by the Minister for Women’s Safety as a ‘down payment’ on the next National
Plan, which will commence in mid-2022. The bulk of the funding under the new women’s
safety package has been allocated for 2021–22 and 2022–23, so it is likely
further funding will be provided in the years beyond that once a new National
Plan commences in 2022.
A notable inclusion in the package is $261.4 million over
two years for a new National Partnership with the states and territories to
expand funding to frontline services. The Minister has described
this as providing funding during the ‘transition to the next National Plan’,
and noted that states and territories will also be expected to contribute funding
under the Partnership. This builds on a National
Partnership Agreement between the Commonwealth and the state and territories struck
in 2020, under which the Commonwealth provided $130 million in response to increased
demand for domestic violence services in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. National
Partnership Agreements have not historically been used to disburse funding
under the National Plan (with the exception of relevant funding under the
Partnership Agreements relating to legal
assistance, and housing
and homelessness). Funding of frontline service providers has previously
been largely provided by the states and territories, with Commonwealth
investment generally directed elsewhere. While state and territory governments will
retain primary responsibility for funding of frontline services, the new
National Partnership Agreement marks a notable move on the Commonwealth’s part
into more direct support for these services.
Family law system and family
violence
There have long been calls for the family
law system to be better resourced to deal with the growing number of
complex family law matters involving family violence. The family courts
currently consist of the Family Court of Australia (FCoA) and the Federal
Circuit Court of Australia (FCCA). On 1 September 2021, the new
amalgamated Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia will commence. Recent recommendations for increased funding for
the family law system have been made by the Joint
Select Committee Inquiry into Australia's Family Law System.
In the 2021–22 Budget, the crucial role of the family courts
in addressing family violence and the necessity of resourcing them has been
addressed as part of the women’s safety package. A total of $416.2 million over
the next four years is allocated
to support women and families experiencing domestic violence through a number
of measures to increase information-sharing and support in the family law
system (p. 24). The increased resourcing for the family courts has been welcomed
by the Chief Justice of the FCoA and Chief Judge of the FCCA, the Hon Will
Alstergren. The allocation
of $60.8m over four years from 2021 (and $1.7 million per year ongoing) (p.
62) will allow the family courts to implement a new streamlined approach to
family law case management. The extra funding for the family courts was
welcomed by the Law
Council of Australia (LCA); however, the LCA expressed
disappointment that the courts remain under-resourced in terms of judicial
and registrar numbers to deal with increased caseloads and backlogs. Women’s
Legal Services Australia welcomed the additional funding for the courts but
warned that urgent
law reform that puts the safety of women and children as a priority still
needs be addressed.
The funding package includes a number of new initiatives
including the National
Information Sharing Framework on Family Safety ($29 million over four
years). This aims
to improve family safety outcomes in the family courts and through the state
and territory family violence and child protection systems by ensuring
decision-makers have prompt and timely access to all relevant family violence
information (p. 25).
A number of existing services received additional funding to
allow for expansion to new locations, including regional areas:
-
$85 million over three years from 2022–23 in additional funding
for enhanced social supports under the Family Advocacy and Support
Services (which combines free legal advice and support at court for people
affected by family violence) and for 26 new locations, including in regional
areas
-
$101.4 million over four years from 2021–22 to increase access to
Children’s Contact Services for families across Australia who are unable to
safely manage arrangements themselves for the contact and changeover of their
children and
-
$129 million over
four years from 2021–22 for increased legal assistance funding to help women
access justice and respond to increasing demand for domestic violence
assistance (See Legal aid and legal assistance services brief for
further details).
Women’s Safety
NSW have welcomed the additional funding stating that ‘these reforms are
essential for ensuring safety first in family law’.
Women’s Economic Security Package
The Women’s Economic Security Package provides measures
worth $1.8 billion over five years to improve women’s workforce participation
and economic security (pp. 81–82). Of the $1.8 billion for this package,
$1.7 billion is spending under the new Child Care subsidy arrangements—see the
Library’s Budget article on Child
Care Subsidy changes.
The remaining $100 million of the Women’s Economic Security
Package funds a range of smaller measures focused largely on boosting women’s
workforce participation, including programs to: encourage women into careers in
science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM); additional grant funding
under the Women’s
Leadership and Development Program; fund capacity building and financial
support for early stage enterprises that improve the safety and economic
security of Indigenous women; and assist women following a career break, or
absence from the workplace.
The Women’s Budget Statement highlights a range of further
measures which it claims will enhance women’s economic security, including
measures relating to training and skills, sport, housing, and retirement income.
Notably absent from the Budget is an extension of superannuation to cover paid
parental leave payments, which some observers,
and the Opposition,
had been expecting.
This brief was updated on 17 May to correct two minor
errors.