Honouring women

BY LIBBY COKER,
Federal member for Corangamite

International Women’s Day is a time to recognise and celebrate the contributions of women.

It is important that government plays its role in unlocking women’s potential.

In our first budget, we did just this – placing women front and centre.

We are delivering on our election commitments to make Australia a world leader in gender equality.

I’m so proud that our government is unlocking and valuing the talent, potential and contribution of women in my electorate of Corangamite, and across Australia.

We are already introducing reforms that enable women to achieve, including:

• Cheaper childcare: this will help women return to the workforce, earn more, and grow their superannuation for retirement;
• Extending Paid Parental Leave, (PPL) to six months: this is the biggest expansion since PPL was introduced by the Labor Government in 2011. This reform will allow flexible arrangements for both parents to care for their children;
• Closing the gender pay gap: employers with 100 or more workers must now publish their gender pay gap. This will drive transparency and improve wage parity; and

The introduction of 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave will help women to leave a violent relationship, continue to earn a wage participate in the workforce.

I am proud of these reforms. I am also proud of our government, which now, for the first time has a majority of women.

Fifty-four of the 103 members of the Labor Caucus are women. And we’re better for it.

This is a government that better reflects the Australian community, a government that listens to women’s voices and creates an environment where women and girls can flourish.

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