Politics in Paradise – what can women do?

By Bettina Walter, Desiré Gralton and Ingrid Jackson

Background

A recent Noosa women’s circle discussion on the Messenger app put women’s empowerment, safety and affordable housing at its core. The circle is a loose group of women open to all who wish to support the development, self-esteem, courage and endeavours of Noosa Shire women.

In preparation for a meeting of this group at the end of May, we thought we would frame the issues that have been discussed by identifying some of the government policies that create, impact or alleviate them.

National Context

Before exploring what Noosa women can do, women’s issues need to be considered in the national context.

It has recently become apparent that, in spite of women getting the vote in the early 20th century and the changes wrought for greater equality since the 1960s, women in Australia are still experiencing inequality, discrimination, harassment and violence.

Since the Liberal-National Coalition has been in power under Abbott, Turnbull and now Morrison, they have covertly, and at times blatantly, been dismantling support programs for the more vulnerable and destitute and, even when they set up inquiries into issues of public concern, mostly they ignore the recommendations.

Women make up a large proportion of all vulnerable groups, including Indigenous Australians, persons with disabilities, the unemployed, the impoverished and the elderly.
Women are also most often the carers of people with disabilities and the elderly, two groups that are suffering significant neglect under the current regime.

As if the scandalous Robo-debt scheme that ruined the lives of many was not enough, the Government’s latest intent appears to be to diminish who benefits under NDIS and introduce something similar to Robo-debt!

And proposed workforce reforms threaten to exacerbate the rise in casual work that leaves employees vulnerable with no security and not enough money to put food on the table.
Meanwhile, a tax regime is to be rolled out to reduce corporate tax and the taxes of the wealthy, not those with lower incomes.

All these shifts are leading to significant stress and anxiety which have a negative impact on society as a whole, including a potential increase in crime, drugs, illness, domestic violence, depression and suicide. It also has a negative impact on the economy as a whole because consumption by the disadvantaged is reduced while government expenditure on policing, services and health goes up.

While both major political parties have played a role in exacerbating the problems for women, the deep patriarchal roots of the LNP have shown themselves to be the most toxic element in Australian politics today.

Decisions being made by mainly older white men impact the lives of women. These decisions are often not the kindest or even most cost effective in the long run, and they can have terrible consequences.

The patriarchal system inherited from colonial days disturbs the balance of power and propagates a system based on control and separation under the guise of “autonomy” and “independence”. This excellent essay by Australian journalist Jess Hill lays bare some of the problems we need to solve to fix the mess we are in.

Back to our Noosa women’s circle of friends. We propose that individual acts of kindness and support are not enough to counter the brutal attack on social services and the social fabric that some political parties have supported.

We welcome socio-political contributions of women in our local circles, but …. how is it possible to help women while at the same time still supporting any party with an unreconstructed culture and inadequate policies that harm women?

COVID-19 and disadvantage

The impacts of the COVID pandemic uncovered existing gaps and issues for women, and many of the Government responses added further insult to injury.

• Women are more likely to be employed as casuals. Yet the Government’s JobKeeper program did not apply to casual workers with less than one year at a job, leaving large numbers of women without work.
• JobKeeper was also not extended to universities, in spite of border closures stopping international students on whom universities had become dependent for funds. This led to large numbers of academic staff losing their jobs, particularly women, who were more likely to be casuals with no tenure.
• Universities have been forced to reduce their offerings and the Government is shifting its funding priorities to favour certain subjects. This makes study more expensive for women seeking to upskill themselves in diverse fields.
• For those receiving no financial compensation, the government freed up and encouraged people to dip into their superannuation savings for survival. Over $30 billion were withdrawn. A large number of women, who in the first place had less superannuation than men, withdrew and spent their savings and now have nothing for their old age.
• Childcare has become unaffordable for people with low incomes – those at most need of work – making it unviable for women with children to return to low paid jobs, advance their skills and careers, build up superannuation, and contribute to the economy.
• The JobKeeker program has shown up the trickle down theory as a folly. Though denied to many needy people, large companies benefited from JobKeeper and used it to prop up top management salaries, bonuses and dividends. So instead of trickling down, we saw the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
• Meanwhile, after temporarily inflating ‘New Start’ as ‘JobSeeker’, the Government again reduced the dole below the poverty line, severely impacting the lives of women and families.
• Resulting from the loss of employment and the necessary lock-downs, domestic violence increased, with greater demand for services which are inadequate, having previously suffered government funding cuts.
• Because of discrimination and social issues, a large number women over 55 now feature amongst the homeless. No job, no superannuation, no future, no home.
• COVID laid bare the atrocious state of the Aged Care sector. The Coalition’s preference for small government and unregulated markets means essential services like aged care and nursing are underfunded, with insufficient workers and money often pocketed by providers.

Although introduced under the Coalition Government, the Labor Opposition made few objections, largely condoning these decisions. Policies and programs were implemented without assessing the collateral impacts on women.

Women’s Safety

In Australia, we are witnessing a groundswell of women who want to make a difference for the victims of gender inequality. This was triggered when women found a voice and spoke up about sexual violence and sexual harassment, particularly at Parliament House.

In March women across Australia joined together in the March4Justice and demanded that women’s safety be addressed by the Government.

In spite of all the inquiries and legislation, women’s safety has again been found to be lacking. Women have begun to speak up about harassment and violence in their workplaces – at Parliament House, in the public service and in businesses – and about domestic violence in their homes which for many are not sanctuaries.

They also raised again the inequity and discrimination that continues to exist for women with respect to matters such as jobs, pay equity, safety, power and influence.

With women giving voice to their experiences, it has astounded the community to learn that discrimination and harassment laws do not apply to parliamentary staff and that the recommendations of the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces were left on the shelf by the Government and ignored until the recent outcry.

Domestic violence is an ongoing problem in Australia. It is a complex problem with many causes including a culture condoning dominance and dependency, and confounded by factors such as poverty, joblessness, drugs and alcohol.

Much is needed to help victims and perpetrators of domestic violence. Yet we keep seeing funding cuts to domestic violence support organisations.

In the 2021 budget released this week, the Department of Social Services received a funding cut and Services Australia will lose $286 million in funding and 800 staff, a huge blow to an organisation that organises welfare services and payments.

Domestic violence and affordable housing are closely linked. People who would be better off not living together often have no choice. They simply have nowhere to go.

While Noosa Shire does offer transitional accommodation at a small number of ‘Shine Houses’, this is insufficient and not a long-term solution for broken families who have nowhere to live.

The circle of Noosa women expressed they care deeply about domestic family violence. They understand that this does not end with being charitable and fundraising for the victims. They understand that early intervention would save lives.

Housing Affordability and Affordable Housing

First let’s get the language right. Housing affordability and affordable housing are two quite different things. The Australian Government’s parliamentary website explains:

“The term ‘housing affordability’ usually refers to the relationship between expenditure on housing (prices, mortgage payments or rents) and household incomes.
“The concept of housing affordability is different to the concept of ‘affordable housing’, which refers to low-income or social housing.”

Housing affordability

Housing affordability (property prices and rents vis-à-vis incomes) are affected by the economy, government policies and the law of supply and demand. Currently many things are operating to push demand and hence prices up – low interest rates, low bank deposit rates, negative gearing, self-managed superfunds allowed to borrow, first home buyer grants and other state and federal subsidies, and the COVID era funded renovations to the homes of the wealthy. Meanwhile on the supply side, construction of new dwellings has slowed due to COVID.

In addition, Noosa and other regional centres have experienced buyers coming from Sydney and Melbourne to escape high density living during the COVID pandemic, with Noosa house and unit prices skyrocketing.

In Australia there is a growing divide between the haves and have nots. This is exacerbated by Government policies which favour the privileged few and penalise the poor and disadvantaged. There are many policy failures such as tax breaks and other benefits for the wealthy while keeping wages low.

Affordable Housing

In Noosa there are many who find it hard to find affordable housing, as there is little social housing available. Homeless people, families suffering domestic violence, people in poverty or with low incomes, and women over 55 who have ended up single and without savings or superannuation. Also the low-paid hospitality and aged care workers, on whom Noosa’s economy still depends, find it hard to rent in Noosa. Higher rents are driving people to live further afield which increases the time and cost of getting to and from work.

Yet insufficient money is made available to properly fund social housing, and programs like the National Rental Affordability Scheme have been axed by the Federal government, leaving many low income tenants homeless.

The Queensland government has committed to spending $1.6 billion over 10 years to build around 5,500 social and affordable homes but according to the Queensland Council of Social Services (QCOSS), that number is well short of the mark to cater for the nearly 26,397 households listed on the state government’s Public Housing Register as of last September.

Emergency services are struggling to keep up with the demand, and according to 
Vinnies Queensland CEO Kevin Mercer, greater investment in affordable housing is long overdue.

What can Noosa women do?

Women can take action individually or as a group, to change their own lives, in support of others, and/or to help change government policies and priorities.

When it comes to sexual harassment and workplace violence, women can give each other courage to challenge their employers and partners, on whom they are dependent for money.

When it comes to domestic violence, women need both moral support and financial support. Women’s circles can engage with existing underfunded domestic violence services to find out what they need and what would be of most assistance to aid them. This might include volunteering, advocacy and fundraising.

Women can individually or as a group advocate vis-à-vis governments at federal, state and local level for action to be taken.

An alternative is for women to get involved in existing advocacy groups, or run for local council which does not require being pre-selected by a party.

When it comes to overall Government policy and programs, women really need to take a stand above the political divide to make things truly better – and not just use band aids to make themselves feel better. Talkfests and marches don’t work on their own.

Importantly with the next Federal election coming up, it is crucial that women know who they are voting for and where respective political parties stand in relation to the issues that affect them.

We invite the politically-inclined to explore the policies of each party, and how these affect women. However announcements, pre-election budgets and campaign promises need to be taken with a grain of salt. To assess the lived values of a political party, it’s their track record that counts. Not what they said, but what they have done.

It is time for more Noosa women to take matters into their own hands and become involved in politics at the local, state and federal level.

A first step for individual women may be to explore which political party best aligns with their values and join a party branch. This opens up the opportunity for advocating about party policies at branch level, or perhaps over time at state and national party conferences.

Even the most rusted on LNP voters would understand that change from within would take an awful lot of time and effort – yet time is of the essence.

It’s necessary to engage more deeply in a party, which itself is a politically competitive field. Mere party membership is unlikely to make a difference.

A creative option could perhaps be to start a chapter of Sandi Toksvig’s international Women’s Equality Party – a party which will make itself redundant when Domestic Violence has been curbed and gender equality has been achieved.

In the lead up to the next Federal election, Open Noosa intends to host a few online Women in Politics panel sessions to focus on certain topics. We hope you will join us for some interesting discussions about the decisions that affect our lives.

Let’s not shy away from these challenging topics but tackle them head on with honesty and courage.