Future Women Leadership Summit 11 March
I begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
I extend that respect to all First Nations people joining us today.
I want to acknowledge the strength and leadership of First Nations women in Australia – who are so often leaders in their communities, holders of knowledge and strong advocates for equality.
I’d also like to thank the Future Women team for the incredible work they put into making events like this possible.
To everyone here today, and particularly to those of you who are part of the Future Women Jobs Academy program – I am so pleased to have the opportunity to speak with you today.
Reflecting on the theme of this Summit, “Imagine” – imagining a better future for women at work – I thought about what I envision as a better future for women.
As a teenager in the 90s, I imagined it looking like Spice Girls-style ‘girl power’, smashing that glass ceiling with our platform shoes.
10 years ago, women were told we could climb our way to the top and have it all, if we would just “lean in”.
If only it were that easy.
It’s not enough to imagine a better future for women, we need to build that better future – turning imagination into action and dismantling the structural barriers that continue to exist.
That’s the work the Albanese Government is doing as we are focused on delivering for women, at work and in all aspects of their lives.
When we came to government, we had a very long to-do list for women’s equality.
A to-do list shaped by many of you in the room – by women around the country, community leaders, workers, mothers – who’ve all added their voice to a movement that has no shortage of good ideas when it comes to improving the lives of women.
A little over a year ago, our Government launched our National Strategy for Gender Equality – which we called Working for Women.
It sets a path to shift the dial on gender equality – and to make genuine and demonstrable progress on that to-do list.
We focused the Strategy on five priority areas: gender-based violence, paid and unpaid care, economic equality and security, health and leadership, representation and decision-making.
Each of these areas is critical to create a better future for women.
We recognised it was crucial that we created a better future for all women – First Nations women, women from diverse backgrounds.
And these were all priorities from day one of our term and that will guide us going forward.
We’ve taken some big strides forward since 2022.
We’ve made record investments in women’s safety – $4 billion – to address the national crisis of violence against women and children.
We’re extending Paid Parental Leave to six months and making it more flexible – with superannuation paid on top of it starting in July.
We’ve made childcare cheaper, and passed legislation to scrap the Activity Test and give every family a three-day childcare guarantee.
We’ve delivered pay increases for highly feminised industries like aged care and early childhood education.
We’ve made the workplace relations settings fairer for women and added domestic violence leave to National Employment Standards.
We wiped $3 billion in HECS debt, knowing that women hold the majority of loans and generally take longer to pay off their student loans, because of career breaks and the gender pay gap.
We made TAFE free – and so far more than 60% of free TAFE enrolments have been women.
And all these things make a real difference to women’s working lives.
Women’s workforce participation is at an all-time high, with half-a-million more women employed now than in 2022.
Women working full time are earning, on average, $217 more a week than they were three years ago.
The gender pay gap has narrowed by more than 2 percentage points in three years.
90% of employers have policies or strategies in place to support gender equality in the workplace.
For the Albanese Government, when we imagine equality, we know that real progress requires real investment.
Not just in dollars, but in political will, in sustained focus, and in structural change.
And in everyone working together across every portfolio to find all those opportunities to make a difference for women’s lives.
And that includes the Cabinet table – for the first time, we have a Federal Government made up of a majority of women, and an equal number of women and men in Cabinet.
It was no accident that within that Cabinet, the Prime Minister appointed Minister Katy Gallagher to both the Finance portfolio and the Women’s portfolio.
It was deliberate.
Because he understood that to drive real change, women needed to be where the economic decisions are made.
And with such a big and ambitious agenda, it is no surprise that our Government has both a Minister for Women and an Assistant Minister for Women, and I am honoured to be working closely with Katy in this critical portfolio.
Both these things are a recognition that women’s policy isn’t something you tack on at the end of the Cabinet agenda.
It’s not just something we imagine.
It’s not a “nice to have” if there’s time left over or you have a bit of spare change.
It’s central to everything we do.
And while we’re proud to be the first Federal Government with a majority of women in our Caucus, what matters more is that 100% of our Caucus supports equality for women.
Because achieving genuine equality requires everyone to be part of the solution.
And it’s in all our interests to be part of the solution.
Women, men, families, workplaces – everyone benefits from having a society where women are equal, and able to fulfil their potential.
It is important to continue to emphasise this point, in an era when we do face push-back to equality – this work is good for our country and our communities as a whole.
And so we have to continue our momentum so that we are not just imagining a better future for women at work, but Australian women are living it.
We have made progress, and there is more to do.
As Assistant Minister for Women, I have the opportunity to meet women from all around the country, at all the ages and stages of life, and hear about their lived experiences and their hopes for the future.
To make the lives of women in Australia safer, fairer and more equal.
Women everywhere, including all of you, are driving change.
And we’re a Government that hears you, and gets you.
And we’re always looking for ways to drive positive change, to turn imagination into action.
So with your support, I’m looking forward to sustaining our momentum, to deliver change to keep building a better future for women and girls in Australia.
https://ministers.pmc.gov.au/thwaites/2025/future-women-leadership-summit