The CEW Pre-Budget Submission titled 'Investing in Women's Leadership and Workforce Participation as an Economic Imperative', centres on four key pillars:
1. Advance Women's Leadership
- Build pathways for women into high-growth, male-dominated industries through targeted programs and skills recognition.
- Drive national shift to high-quality flexible work, with the APS as a way to model best practice.
2. Strengthen Women's Economic Security
- Review tax and transfer settings to reduce workforce disincentives for carers and secondary earners.
- Increase JobSeeker to 90% of Age Pension to support women out of poverty.
3. Address Gendered Violence
- Remove waiting periods for government assistance for people leaving violence.
- Adequately resource enforcement of the Respect@Work positive duty.
4. Place Care at the Centre of the Economy
- Progress Universal ECEC with improved wages, governance, and workforce sustainability.
- Expand Paid Parental Leave with "use it or lose it" provisions to promote shared care.
The submission also calls for strengthening Australia's gender equality machinery through gender-responsive budgeting, intersectional data collection, and national targets with transparent dashboards.
