Key Budget Announcements & AMWA’s Recommendations: 

---

Women’s Economic Security and Paid and Unpaid Care 

• Superannuation on Paid Parental Leave: Effective 1 July 2025, eligible parents will receive an additional superannuation payment equivalent to 12% of their Paid Parental Leave (PPL) payments, contributing to their nominated superannuation fund. 

• Childcare and Early Education: From January 2026, the government will provide three days a week of subsidised early education for children in need. Additionally, a $1 billion Building Early Education Fund has been established to create a universal childcare system in Australia. This fund will support the construction and expansion of centres in areas of need, including outer suburbs and regional Australia, with a focus on co-locating services on school sites and supporting the growth of high-quality not-for-profit providers. 

• Cost of Living pressure relief and education support: 

• Aged Care worker Age increase – An additional investment of $2.6 billion for a further pay rise for 60,000 aged care nurses, to deliver fair pay for the workers and nurses who care for older Australians. 

• Energy bill relief – $1.8 million to extend energy bill relief for 6 months to December 2025, which will particularly benefit women who are overrepresented in low-income household. 

• Education support – Introduction of legislation to make Free TAFE an enduring program from 2027 and reducing HELP and other student loan debts by 20% before indexation is applied on 1 June 2025. 

• Support for gender segregated industries – $16.4 million allocated to tripartite pilot programs with peak employer organisations and state and territory Trades and Labour Councils who are uniquely placed to help identify new ways to make workplaces safer, more respectful and more equitable for women in traditionally male-dominated sectors.  

• Disability support – $364.5 million to provide general supports for people with disability and their families, carers and kin. These supports will complement additional foundational supports to be co-funded with states and territories. 

AMWA’s Response:  

• Superannuation on Paid Parental Leave (PPL) – AMWA welcomes the addition of superannuation payments to the PPL scheme. CALD women often face cultural expectations to provide care, disproportionately shouldering caregiving responsibilities that limit workforce participation, career progression, and financial independence. The inclusion of superannuation in PPL supports long-term economic security for women in caregiving roles. Paid Parental Leave (PPL), which stipulate 4 weeks leave for each parent on a use it or lose it basis, can pave a path for gender parity and more equitable division of caregiving roles. While we commend the expansion of the PPL scheme, we urge the government to further review and expand the criteria to include those caring for family members with disabilities, illnesses, and the elderly. AMWA notes the critical importance of an expanded criteria for migrant and culturally diverse women, who often live in joint family systems with caring responsibilities for the elderly, and are over-represented in low paid casual jobs, accruing less superannuation consequently. 

• Childcare Accessibility and Cultural Responsiveness – AMWA commends investment in the childcare system in Australia through the $1 billion Building Early Education Fund and recognises affordable childcare as central to increasing women’s workforce participation, contributing to economic growth, and fostering an inclusive society. However, existing childcare programs often fail to address the unique needs of CALD families, particularly in regional and remote areas. AMWA looks forward to collaborating with the government to ensure effective implementation of the newly passed legislation (Three-Day Guarantee), which guarantees three days of subsidised childcare for families earning up to $530,000 annually.  To complement the Three-Day Guarantee and ensure CALD families can fully benefit from the new policy, we call for increased investment in culturally responsive childcare services, and targeted awareness campaigns for multicultural audiences that address non-financial barriers to access and highlight the importance of early childcare for children’s educational and personal development. This approach would foster trust with CALD families through appropriate messaging and create inclusive environments through the employment of bicultural staff, benefitting both children and parents.  

• Cost of Living pressure relief and education support – AMWA welcomes measures to ease cost-of-living pressures, expand access to education, and address gender segregation in the workforce. We note, however, that these initiatives must actively prioritise alleviating the economic insecurity of migrant, refugee, and culturally diverse and racialised women, considering the added financial disadvantage they may face. This means ensuring that support measures are culturally accessible; that education pathways are tailored with wraparound supports; and tripartite pilot programs to address gender segregation embed intersectional approaches that reflect the diversity of women’s experiences across the economy. AMWA also notes additional supports for people with disabilities and recognises the need to alleviate barriers of access faced by people with disabilities from multicultural backgrounds. 

---

Gender Based Violence  

• National Access to Justice Partnership – The government has committed $21.4 million to strengthen support for victims and survivors, alongside a $3.9 billion National Access to Justice Partnership. This includes a renewed five-year Family, Domestic, and Sexual Violence National Partnership, delivering over $700 million in new matched investment from federal and state/territory governments. Funding is allocated for specialist services for women, support for children recovering from abuse and violence, and men’s behaviour change programs for perpetrators of gendered violence.  

• Emergency Accommodation – Additionally, $2.5 million is to be invested in 2025–26 to provide emergency accommodation for women and children experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence under the Safe Places Emergency Accommodation Program  

• FDSV complex case management and wrap around support – $0.2 million in 2025–26 to extend funding for complex case management and provide wrap around support services for victim‑survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence.  

• Leaving Violence Payment – $925.2 million to establish the new and permanent Leaving Violence Program, which will commence on 1 July 2025. This program will provide critical support to victim-survivors of intimate partner violence, including migrants regardless of visa status, through individualised financial support packages of up to $5,000 which will be indexed annually to keep pace with the cost of living. 

AMWA’s Response 

• Culturally appropriate emergency accommodation – AMWA advocates that the investment allocated to emergency accommodation, complex case management and wrap around support services considers the nuanced requirements of migrant, refugee and CALD women and those with temporary visas. 

• Expanding Payments of the Leaving Violence Program – AMWA acknowledges that financial insecurity can be a major barrier for women to leave violent and abusive relationships. While we support individualised financial packages as part of the Leaving Violence Program to victim survivors, including migrants irrespective of visa status, we call for an increase of payments from $5000 (indexed annually) to $7000, particularly given the added financial costs faced by women of temporary residence status in Australia. We also call for an expansion of the eligibility criteria to include all victim-survivors of violence by co-residents (e.g., family members, carers).  

• Culturally sensitive and responsive systems of referral –   AMWA commends the government’s investment in FDSV (Family, Domestic, and Sexual Violence) support and urges further alignment of state and territory laws and police responses to ensure efficient and trauma-free referral pathways. We welcome the focus on providing culturally safe legal assistance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  Similarly, we emphasise that reducing barriers to accessing the legal justice system for culturally marginalised and racialised women is also imperative. In line with recommendations from the parliamentary inquiry into family violence orders, we advocate for: 

• Streamlined Legal Processes: Reducing wait times and navigating between magistrate courts and family courts to prevent escalation risks during interim periods as the perpetrator’s sense of dominance over the victim is threatened 

• Accessible Court Proceedings: Providing support to individuals from CALD and migrant communities with limited English proficiency or low digital literacy and embedding systems literacy into the support programs to help better navigation of FDSV response mechanisms in Australia. 

• Cultural Safety Training for Police: Through its national consultations, AMWA has found inconsistent and discriminatory patterns in police responses to victims reporting FDSV from CALD communities. AMWA recommends mandatory training to improve responsiveness and eliminate systemic biases in handling domestic violence incidents. 

• Trained Language Interpreters: Specialised training for interpreters in domestic violence response to ensure clear and trauma-informed communication during police interactions and legal proceedings. 

• Multicultural Community Liaison Officers: Funding specialised officers to work with police and CALD communities in handling FDSV cases sensitively and effectively. 

---

Women’s Health Initiatives 

• Women’s Health Package: An announcement of a $573.3 million investment aiming to improve women’s health services, including better access to contraceptives, menopause treatments, and endometriosis care (part of a $792.9 million commitment over 5 years from 2024-2025). This initiative introduces new contraceptive pills to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), bulk-billing for IUDs and implants, and new treatments for menopause and urinary tract infections (UTIs). These measures are expected to result in significant savings for women and their families 

• Culturally responsive health programs – The Government is providing a further $5.4 million in 2025–26 for the Health in My Language (HiML) program, bringing total investment across 2021–22 to 2025–26 to $24.3 million. Funding will extend delivery of the HiML program that enables migrant and refugee women to discuss important health issues in their own language. 

AMWA’s Response: 

The announcement of the $573 million investment in women’s health is a significant step toward addressing longstanding healthcare disparities. Improved access to affordable contraceptives, pelvic pain, menopause treatments, and endometriosis care will greatly benefit CALD women, who often face additional barriers to healthcare access. AMWA supports these initiatives and encourages ongoing consultation with CALD communities to ensure these health services are culturally appropriate and accessible, as well targeted investments in multilingual education campaigns on reproductive health.  

---

Leadership, Representation and Decision Making:  

The Government is leading by example within the Australian Parliament, Australian Government boards, and the Australian Public Service, to improve women’s leadership and meaningful participation in decision making. A critical part of this is ensuring more First Nations women, women with disability and women from diverse backgrounds are represented in decision-making and leadership positions. 

AMWA’s Response:  

AMWA commends the commitment to improve women’s leadership and meaningful participation in decision making demonstrated in its commitment to establishing a place-based business coaching and mentoring program for First Nations women. Moving forward, AMWA would welcome the opportunity to ensure that migrant, refugee and CALD women are represented in leadership and decision-making roles in a manner that is truly reflective of the Australian multicultural community.  

AMWA remains committed to working alongside the government to ensure that specific measures are introduced to advance leadership opportunities for women, taking into account multiple intersectionalities of race, religion, caste, class and disability in representation. Better data collection on the representation of culturally diverse women is crucial in this effort. In addition, AMWA advocates for cultural representation to be embedded alongside increased efforts to combat racism against culturally marginalised, racialised and diverse women to create safe environments for women to truly voice and represent perspectives that are embedded in lived experience and intergenerational histories of marginalisation and consideration of this education and capability building at a school level.  

As one of the National Women’s Alliances, we look forward fulfilling our role of ensuring migrant, refugee and CALD women’s voices and expertise are centralised and prioritised when informing the implementation of Working for Women Program. 

---

“This Budget takes important steps toward improving women’s safety, health and economic security—but inclusion must be more than intent. Migrant, refugee and CALD women face distinct and compounding barriers across every system, and their inclusion must be intentional, not incidental. Equity means designing for every woman, especially those at the margins. As part of the National Women’s Alliances, AMWA is committed to ensuring the lived experience of multicultural women is central to policy decision-making so that no woman is left behind.” 
— Malini Raj, Executive Director, Australian Multicultural Women’s Alliance (AMWA) 

---