The Greens have announced a policy to support women-led businesses, generating more employment opportunities for women and boosting economic growth.

Businesses with female founders and executive leadership employ, on average, six times as many women as other businesses, and typically have strong parental leave and flexible working arrangements. But women-led businesses, particularly in regional areas, often find it difficult to secure finance, despite the calibre of staff or the quality of their product or service.

The Greens say the absence of meaningful commitments to addressing gender inequality and economic insecurity in the government’s draft Draft National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children was alarming, while the short consultation period and failure to publish the consultation report proved they had no commitment to genuine community engagement.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on women Senator Larissa Waters said:

The Greens have announced a policy to reform the political system, clean up politics, and strengthen democracy. At the end of a bruising political year where the government remained unrepentant despite scandal after scandal, it’s clear a new approach is needed to restore public confidence in democracy.

The Greens say today’s move by the Coalition and Labor to reaffirm their dodgy deal to permanently axe Senate motions represents one more nail in the coffin for democracy and transparency.

The decision makes permanent the temporary arrangement between the Liberals and Labor in June which eliminated motions that ask the Senate to form an opinion, replacing them with two-minute statements.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:

Labor has signed on to the government’s anti-democracy agenda by voting for new legislation designed to silence critical voices from the nonprofit sector.

The Electoral Legislation Amendment (Political Campaigner) Bill was rammed through the Senate tonight without debate and without going to inquiry, passing after a dirty deal between Labor and the Liberals. 

The Greens have warned the government that Australian women expected them to swiftly and fully implement the recommendations of the Jenkins review, after the much-anticipated report into parliamentary workplace culture was tabled today.

The review, triggered after Brittany Higgins came forward with allegations that she had been raped in a minister’s office, makes 28 recommendations, including:

On International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women the Greens have called for the Morrison Government to commit serious funding to frontline services, prevention programs, and short and long term housing so that women are not forced to choose between violence and homelessness.
 

The Greens say the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) must be given more powers to tackle gender inequality in the workplace, including the ability to require organisations to report on the number of sexual harassment incidents reported by employees and how they were handled.

The Greens say the government’s Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Commission is an inadequate response to the women’s safety crisis that is more about politics than it is about serious action to protect women.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:

The Greens say today’s tabling of the Final Report of Pauline Hanson’s toxic family law inquiry marks the welcome end of more than two years of political grandstanding that has traumatised survivors of family and domestic violence and provided a platform for hate and misinformation.

Greens deputy leader and spokesperson on democracy Senator Larissa Waters said:

“What a colossal waste of time and energy.