FED BUDGET: TAX REFORM MUST EXTEND TO BROADER CHANGES TO LIFT PRODUCTIVITY, WOMEN'S WORKFORCE PARTICIPATION

Tuesday 12 May 2026 - Broader reform of Australia's tax and transfer system is critical to lifting women's workforce participation, easing cost-of-living pressures and lifting national productivity.

Chief Executive Women (CEW) welcomes the Federal Government's decision to engage with reform of Australia's tax and transfer system in the 2026‑27 Federal Budget, and encourages the Government to extend this work to the broader reform Australia needs.

CEW CEO Lisa Annese said any engagement with the architecture of Australia's tax and transfer system was overdue, and should be the foundation for the broader reform Australia could no longer afford to delay.

"Australia's tax and transfer system was designed for a single‑income household that is no longer the norm," Ms Annese said.

"For decades, it has been adjusted at the edges. We welcome the Government's willingness to engage in this work, and we encourage it to go further."

Ms Annese said one of the most consequential structural barriers in the tax and transfer system remained the way it treated secondary earners, who are overwhelmingly women.

"Primary carers, who are overwhelmingly women, can face an effective marginal tax rate above 80 cents in the dollar when they take on additional days of work," Ms Annese said.

"Reducing those disincentives would add an estimated 12 million working hours to the economy each year.

"That is meaningful national productivity, and it is direct cost‑of‑living relief for families bearing the weight of the current settings."

Ms Annese said tax and transfer reform was one part of the broader agenda the government must deliver to lift women's workforce participation and Australia's productivity.

"CEW will continue to call for sustained investment in early childhood education and care, including funding to maintain educators' wages through the next phase of the Fair Work Commission's staged increases; action to end gender‑based violence; and an increase to JobSeeker to enable women to live safely and participate in the workforce," Ms Annese said.

"These investments are essential to the productivity gains Australia is looking for. They are not separate from economic policy. They are at the centre of it."

CEW welcomes the funding announced in this Budget for a number of measures aligned with our advocacy priorities, including:

Working to end gender‑based violence:

• $182.6 million over four years to address weaponisation, financial abuse and non‑compliance in the Child Support Scheme.
• $218.3 million over five years to support delivery of Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Women's health:

• $2.7 million over four years for new listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, subsidies for cervical cancer treatment, and funding for maternal healthcare and culturally appropriate health care.

Secure housing:

• $59.4 million over four years for community housing providers supporting young people.

CEW's Pre‑Budget Submission 2026‑27 sets out the full reform agenda required to lift women's economic security, workforce participation and national productivity. This includes reform of the tax and transfer settings that penalise secondary earners. It also calls for sustained investment in the care economy, action on gender‑based violence, and strengthened protections against workplace sexual harassment.

Media Contact: Mayank Gurnani E: mgurnani@cew.org.au M: +61414463827

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