The Federal Government’s 2026-27 Budget includes the introduction of new and maintenance of existing initiatives that are intending to fund systems and provide resources for women and girls.

A key feature of this year’s women’s budget is the Government’s approach to tackle altering its existing systems that can currently be weaponised by Australians to perpetuate violence against women. These systems include family law and housing.

There are several initiatives listed in the women’s budget that originated from other sections of the general 2026-27 budget, but impact women because they form a major part of the Australian population. There are times throughout this budget where the government regurgitates these initiatives but adds a vague statement that the investment will aid women.

Plan to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Family Safety

The Federal Government has committed to its first dedicated standalone Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander plan for family safety. The ‘Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026-2036’ (Our Ways) launched on February 10, and aims to combat the intersectional challenges faced by First Nations women.

Our Ways will consist of $218.3 million in Government funding over five years from the 2025-26 budget. This will support funding for a national network of Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations to deliver services for First Nations women, children and communities impacted by family, domestic, and sexual violence.

The Government has also committed $15.5 million over five years from 2025-26 to support the establishment and development of the new ‘National Peak Body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Family Safety, Our Ways Strong Together’ organisation. Launched in March 2026, the organisation is intended to voice the perspective of community-controlled organisations and contribute to shaping policies and programs. 

According to the Federal Government, First Nations women make up about 3 per cent of adult, female Australians, yet comprise an average of 16 per cent of adult female homicide victims. This has been a trend each year since 1989-90.

Moreover, the Government will provide $33.8 million in 2026-27 and 2027-28 to support the continuation of culturally responsive support for First Nations Australians in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia.

This funding will also include financial support for Lighthouse which involves screening parenting matters for family safety risks when filed in the court, triaging matters and assisting at-risk parties with safety planning and service referrals. The Government reports Lighthouse has seen 24,193 individual parties complete the risk screening from November 28, 2022 to June 30, 2025.

Investments for Young People living in Community Housing

The 2026-27 budget will consist of a $59.4 million investment over four years to support states and territories in providing funding to supplement rental income for community housing providers supporting young people.

Over 4,000 young people aged 16 to 24 who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness will receive help finding stable housing, through assistance navigating limited income, lack of rental history, and a need for additional support.

A large portion of young people experiencing or at risk of homeless and are unable to live at their family home are more likely to either be victims of gender-based violence or have left home because of gender-based violence. Specifically, girls and young women form 66 per cent of Specialist Homelessness Services clients aged 16 to 24 presenting on their own.

Plans to Prevent and Halt Gender-Based Violence in Young Men

The rise in sexist attitudes amongst young men is being addressed by the Government through the Primary Prevention Activities Program which aims to nationally prevent harmful societal attitudes and stereotypes towards women in education and workplace settings. The Government reports that this initiative has engaged with 370 frontline and community organisations.

The Government seemingly still believes in education and awareness campaigns, investing $77.6 million into age-appropriate consent and respectful relationships education.

Additionally, the budget consists of plans to tackle technology-facilitated gender-based violence, including coercive control, cyberstalking and deepfake images and videos.

Since March 9, 2026 children under the age of 18, in line with the Age-Restricted Material Codes, have had limited access to adult material, including pornography. Access to pornographic content, particularly ones that consist of violent and harmful sexual behaviours contributes to increasing misogynistic views, however the Government fails to detail their initiative to limit such content in this budget, such as children using VPNs to access restricted websites.

In saying that, the eSafety Commissioner has committed $5.4 million in 2026-27 to continue the Technology-Facilitated Abuse Support Service to support frontline workers and victim-survivors to navigate and respond to tech-facilitated abuse.

The First Action Plan’s ‘Healthy Masculinities Trial and Evaluation’ encourages school-aged boys and young men to allegedly healthily express their masculinity. This program will receive $861,000 to extend the program by twelve months through to June 30, 2027.

Investments in Sexual and Reproductive Health

The vast majority of the initiatives the Government claims to be implementing in this budget are simply ones they introduced either previously this year, or in other budgets entirely, including the $792.9 million women’s health package from the 2025-26 Budget. Last year’s budget stated these funds would contribute to contraceptive choice and enhanced endometriosis care. This year’s budget follows up those plans.

In terms of contraceptives, 13 new oral contraceptive options have been listed since March 2025. More than 850,000 prescriptions for newly PBS-listed contraceptives were dispensed from March 2025 to March 2026. Consequentially, this has assisted almost 380,000 women and has saved them more than $36 million.

Regarding, endometriosis treatment, the Government has listed 33 Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinics have been established from 2022-23 to 2027-28 through a $39.9 million investment. New Medicare items are supporting longer specialised gynaecological consultations.

Image Source: Katy Gallagher