Budget 2025: What's in it for women?

Content warning: This article mentions intimate partner violence and health issues around pregnancy loss. 

A month ago, Treasurer Jim Chalmers wasn’t expecting to be on air on Tuesday night making his fourth federal budget announcement. But a curveball in the form of Cyclone Alfred gifted him the chance to share a pre-election message of growth against global stormclouds, and a raft of measures to combat the cost of living.

Income tax cuts were a big part of the story – we’re all getting one! From 1 July 2026, the average worker will be about $1,922 a year better off than they were in 2023-24. For the second year in a row, the government is eyeing women's votes and targeting investment towards key areas like childcare and cost-of-living support from lower-cost medicines, energy bill rebates, more affordable housing and student debt relief.

But how did it stack up against last year’s groundbreaking national budget for women when it comes to improving gender equality in Australia?

Chalmers announced a $793 million five-year investment in women’s health as part of a drive to lower the cost of healthcare for all Australians. “This funding will help Australian women save on contraception, access more endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, and receive better support through menopause,” he said. “Because for our Government, women’s health is not a boutique issue or a question of special interest – it is a national priority.”

We think so, too. Last year, Verve Super co-founder Christina Hobbs stood up in the Senate to advocate on issues related to menopause. One in four women aged 45 to 64 report menopause symptoms make it hard to do daily activities and are at higher risk from depression and anxiety. This contributes towards the gender super gap that sees the average woman retiring with 25% less than the average man.

Last night’s Women’s Budget Statement states that this investment in menopause care is a response to that Senate enquiry. The Government has listened, and for the first time, hormone therapies will also – finally! – be eligible for PBS rebates, so that sufferers no longer have to pay top dollar for relief.

Recognising the disparity in levels of support for people experiencing menopause, the Department of Health is also publishing Australia’s first ever clinical guidelines for menopause support, aiming to finally get all doctors on the same page for something that at least half the population will experience, plus a national campaign will help raise public awareness, to end confusion and stigma around this natural process.

Endometriosis, an often-agonising chronic disease affecting one in seven women in Australia, is STILL regularly dismissed as hypochondria. With this level of medical gaslighting, getting a diagnosis can be a real struggle. In a bid to improve things, the Government has committed to opening 11 more specialist endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics across Australia, and to expand the remit of all 33 clinics to also provide specialist menopause support.

Maternity care is also set to benefit from a $662.6 million support package for healthcare workers, including making IVF more affordable and providing support for families experiencing stillbirth. Women are also supported by new mental health funding, including wellbeing support funding for First Nations and LGBTQIA+ communities.

A raft of cost-of-living measures will give all Australians a boost, from confronting the supermarket duopoly to giving everyone a tax cut (a nice surprise) plus $150 off our energy bills (which we’d already been told about).

Women in Australia are still shouldering more than their fair share of unpaid work, doing nine more hours of it every week than men. And with low-paid sectors such as care and support work also female-dominated, there’s a general acknowledgement that women’s contribution is undervalued. Recent measures to level things up have included paying super on parental leave and increasing paid parental leave, but there’s not much new in this budget. One change is that more families will be able to access three days a week of subsidised early years childcare from January 2026.

 “For women who are working,” the budget statement says, “the cost of childcare can be a factor in influencing decisions to work part-time.” By removing barriers to childcare, up to 143,000 more parents could choose to return to work full-time, helping to level up women’s financial security.

Australia’s housing crisis hits women disproportionately. After relationship breakdowns, women often have nowhere to go, fuelling a homelessness epidemic and gender-based violence crisis that’s stretching frontline services to the brink.

A new, $925.2m Leaving Violence program will start providing critical support to women in unsafe domestic situations from 1 July. You have the right to be safe wherever you are – at home, at work or in the community. Part of the budget’s $3.9bn legal support fund will allow people escaping domestic abuse to secure a better outcome through the courts. There’ll also be more specialist support and recovery programs including provision for First Nations communities.

But the best outcome of all would be if women weren’t at risk in the first place. The budget does allocate some funding to work with men and boys to change behaviour and break the cycle of violence, to create safer education and workplaces, and to share information about high-risk perpetrators across different states and systems, allowing authorities to intervene earlier. But there’s no major new response or war-cry over what is an escalating crisis in women’s safety.

A key component of gender-based violence is financial abuse. Verve has been advocating for better protections for victim-survivors, who often lose everything – including their super – to perpetrators. We’re pleased to see the government also funding an audit of Commonwealth systems such as child support, social security and tax, looking for the fastest and most effective ways to protect women from financial abuse. But it’s a slow road, and more is needed.

In 2023–24, Australia invested $2.3 billion in programs targeting gender equality, up from $1.5 billion in 2021–22. But when you compare this to the $14.5 billion the  government is continuing to spend propping up the fossil fuel industry and $46 billion on one submarine, its priorities merit much closer scrutiny.

Economic equality is about drawing on the talents of our whole population to build a future. The scale of the challenge ahead – and the urgent funding commitments it merits – can only be addressed with a budget that’s willing to meet the scale of this crisis.