Federal member for Richmond Justine Elliot joined with The Coolangatta Tweed View Club to celebrate the achievements and contributions of women as part of International Women’s Day. Hundreds of local women were in attendance to hear from guest speakers including key note speaker Noeline Brown, the Ambassador for Ageing.
This year marks 100 years since the first International Women’s Day rallies were held in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, sparking what would eventually become a world-wide movement to champion the cause of equality for women.
“Today’s anniversary is a great opportunity to celebrate the many advances the Australian Government has made towards genuine equality for women,” Justine said.
“We are implementing our country’s first ever National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children which is back with over $86 million in funding for new initiatives announced since April 2009.
“We have delivered Australia’s first national Paid Parental Leave scheme, which means that from 1 January this year, eligible primary carers of new babies are able to receive 18 weeks paid leave to stay at home with newborns.
We introduced the Fair Work Act and abolished AWAs, to provide a stronger safety net for women in the workplace and improve equal remuneration and anti-discrimination provisions.
“We have increased the Child Care Rebate from 30 per cent to 50 per cent and lifted the maximum threshold from $4,354 to $7,500 to support Australian families with the cost of child care.
“Over the past year, our pension reforms have driven increases for pensioners worth an extra $100 a fortnight for singles and an extra $74 for couples combined – this change will have a significant impact on women who make up around 70 per cent of single age pensioners.
“We have also changed the Child Care Rebate to a quarterly payment, so parents don’t have to wait until the end of the year to receive this crucial assistance.”
Justine said that while the Australian Government has made great progress in supporting Australian women, more needs to be done to achieve greater equality between women and men in Australia.
“We have set a target for Government Boards that at least 40 per cent of members should be women and 40 per cent of members should be men,” Justine said.
“We will strengthen protections against discrimination by improving the existing
Sex Discrimination Act.
“We will deliver reforms to superannuation that will boost the retirement savings of all workers. These reforms will deliver a woman aged 30 with broken work patterns an extra $78,000 in superannuation savings.
“To further help ease cost of living pressures being faced by many families we will also provide parents with the option to receive Child Care Rebate payments fortnightly from 1 July 2011.
“This Government believes that equality benefits everyone, women and men, and that equality will be best promoted by women and men working constructively together.
“Our commitments will deliver practical, tangible reforms to help women in this country reach their potential – which is good news for all Australians.”
