Workforce Australia (WFA) commenced in 2021 as a result of the findings of key reviews into the Jobactive program. Under the new model performance criteria have addressed some key failures of the previous systems. However the changes do not address some of the underlying flaws in how services are delivered to job seekers.
NFAW believes that no matter where people are born and live, everyone seeking an abortion should have access to legal, safe, timely and compassionate abortion care.
The NFAW supports measures that improve the affordability, accessibility and quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC).
Gender-based analysis defines the ways in which public policies affect women and men differently. It does so through the systematic use of data to better tailor the development of government programs. The Commonwealth government stopped production of its Women’s Budget Statement, part of the official Budget papers in 2014, after 40 years of production.
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.
The changes to the Fair Work Act proposed in the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill will affect women and men in different ways because the structure of the workforce is not gender neutral. In the case of the current legislative package, most of the proposed changes actively remove rights and entitlements of women by targeting female dominated sectors.
We are responding to the terms of reference through a gender lens. Women’s workforce participation reflects their role as unpaid carers as it changes over the working lifecycle. The industrial relations framework penalises women as it is based on the male breadwinner model, while the tax-transfer system imposes high EMTRs on second incomes and gender segregation limits career progression.
The NFAW supports measures that improve the affordability, accessibility and quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC), early childhood development (ECD) and the well-being of children and families.
In general we support the provisions of the Bill. However, we note that there are key features of the current child care system implemented in 2018 which have not been addressed in this Bill. They warrant further consideration and review. Some of these issues were raised in the Government’s independent Evaluation of the Child Care Package (AIFS, 2022).