Page 4009 - Week 10 - Thursday, 20 September 2018

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Women—government support
(Question No 1646)

Mrs Kikkert asked the Minister for Women, upon notice, on 17 August 2018:

(1) Will the Government reinstate ACT Women’s Budget Statements, including a “gendered critique of the impact of budget allocations on the lives of girls and women”, as recommended by YWCA Canberra in their May 2018 report, titled “Leading the Change: the pathway to gender equality”; if so when will the budget statements be published, and who will be involved in the development of such a gendered critique and; if not, what are the reasons for rejecting this recommendation.

(2) Is the Government committed to fast tracking the implementation of the ACT Women’s Plan through “dedicated resources for the Office of Women with transparent targets and evaluation”, as recommended by YWCA Canberra in their May 2018 report, titled “Leading the Change: the pathway to gender equality”; if so, (a) what measures is the Government taking to fast track the implementation of the ACT Women’s Plan, (b) when was implementation of the ACT Women’s Plan originally due, and how early will implementation take place if it is fast tracked, and (c) what are the “transparent targets” and the nature of the evaluation that will guide the ACT Women’s Plan; if not, what are the reasons for rejecting the recommendation to do otherwise.

Ms Berry: The answer to the member’s question is as follows:

(1) The ACT Government is now in its second year of implementing actions from the first ACT Women’s Action Plan. The action plan can be found online at https://www.communityservices.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/1040375/ACT-WOMENS-PLAN-2016-26-FIRST-ACTION-PLAN-2017-19-WEB.pdf. An action to be delivered in year two of the first action plan is to ‘prepare an annual Women’s Budget Statement’. The government will continue to consider the best way to deliver this action over coming months.

Currently, the ACT Government’s budget documentation already includes an annual Social Inclusion Statement that analyses the impacts of the Government’s policies on the Territory’s population, including women.

The Social Inclusion Statement reflects how the respective Budget delivers on the Government’s vision to support both inclusion and diversity in all its forms. As may be expected, the Social Inclusion Statement details how specific Budget initiatives will benefit women, and how the Government intends to progress gender equality both within our workforce, and through the services and programs that we provide.

(2) The ACT Government has demonstrated its commitment to prioritise the implementation of the ACT Women’s Plan through dedicated resources for the Office of Women. The Plan will be delivered through the agreed implementation and evaluation schedule as detailed below.

(a) In the 2018-19 Budget the ACT Government announced an additional $696,000 over four years to implement actions under the ACT Women’s Plan and to promote gender equality more broadly.


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