We welcome the Committee’s invitation to comment on the Australian Human Rights Commission Amendment (Costs Protection) Bill 2023 [Provisions]. NFAW previously made a submission to the Inquiry into the Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022 which adopted previous recommendations made by NFAW and other women’s organisations to better implement the recommendations of the Respect@Work report.
Consent - and how it is defined and defended - goes to the heart of upholding women’s rights to bodily autonomy, agency and self-determination. Without control over their own bodies and selves, women are far less likely to be able to access broader legal, political and economic rights. Personal agency includes the right to decide freely when and with whom to have sex.
Joint Select Committee on Australia's Family Law System. The Family Law system affects women and men in different ways; it is not gender neutral. This submission responds to the terms of reference through a gender lens.
Wage theft is endemic in Australia and a contributor to the persistent low wage growth undermining the national economy (McKenzie, 2018). It has a massive direct impact on employees who lose entitlements (on average $10,789 for each affected employee) and costs taxpayers over $600m annually (PwC, 2012, iii).
Economic and financial abuse is a form of intimate partner violence. It aims to limit a woman’s access to finances or resources in order to control her behavior and undermine her economic independence.
An RMIT study found that people are more likely to attend non-legal services, like health services, for legal assistance. HJP are effective in terms of addressing violence against women because they get to clients otherwise not reached because of the health care setting. We would advocate for funding the HJP to be increased in a way that builds on existing partnerships.
The origins of the NFAW role lay in the process of national consultations with women and their organisations during 2006 and 2007 on the impacts on their working lives of the former Government’s changes to the industrial relations system (WorkChoices). In consequence early NFAW discussions about a national system of paid maternity or paternity leave were framed around industrial relations policy.
The National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) welcomes the opportunity for wide ranging community input offered by the Inquiry of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee into the Effectiveness of the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) in eliminating discrimination and promoting gender equality.
