Open Letter to Premier Daniel Andrews
Don’t fail Victorian women in the upcoming State Budget. The Federal Budget failed Australian women.
It is illusory to think that there can be economic recovery without the full participation of women of all ages.
Affordable childcare has to be a cornerstone of Victoria’s Budget.
Policies targeted at older women are another cornerstone.
So too is social housing.
The progressive exclusion of women 50+ from the workforce is one of the most serious violations of women’s rights in Australia & it is happening on a mass scale. As a result these women constitute the majority of unemployed, those on welfare and the homeless. The Victorian Budget can halt this process of impoverishment with incentives for employment instead of age discrimination policies such as JobMaker.
If you neglect this escalating social disaster,Victoria will bear both an uncontainable economic burden and social dislocation.
But if you mobilise these women with their accumulated professional expertise & skills, they can be key drivers of recovery, particularly in the expanding health and care sectors.
Deloitte Access Economics estimated pre-pandemic that a 3% increase in participation by the over 55s would generate a $33 billion annual boost to the national economy.
If the coming Budget is good for women, it will be good for Victoria.
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The National Older Women’s Network Inc, (NOWN), support your efforts here and agree it is time to mobilise the expertise of the Older Women of Australia in their “fight”, which it unfortunately and shamefully is, for the right to work and the right to affordable housing. Aloma Fenell, National President NOWN, Meber of the Steering Group of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People(GAROP).
Thank you Aloma & NOWN for your support. We support the work of NOWN. We agree that it is “shameful” that older women are being denied the right to work and affordable housing. Unless there is public pressure to stop this deterioration more and more women will find themselves trapped in poverty & homelessness.