Motion – Gender Responsive Budgets

Notice of Motion  

I (Ms Webb) give Notice that tomorrow I shall move 

(1) That the Legislative Council notes:

(a) The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Council of Europe defines gender responsive budgeting as: “Gender budgeting is an application of gender mainstreaming in the budgetary process. It means a gender-based assessment of budgets, incorporating a gender perspective at all levels of the budgetary process and restructuring revenues and expenditures in order to promote gender equality.”;

(b) in 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated, “Gender equity, achieved through gender responsive budgeting, is more than a human rights issue. It’s an economic imperative.”; and

(c) Gender Equity Victoria defines the three key areas of gender budgeting as:

(i) gender-informed resource allocation whereby individual policy decisions and/or funding allocations take into account the impact of the decision on gender equality;
(ii) analysis at the sectorial level of the impact of decisions on gender equality within that sector or industry; and
(iii) assessment of the impact of the budget as a whole is subject to some degree of gender analysis.

(2) That the Legislative Council further notes:

(a) Australia was recognised as a pioneer and global leader in developing an analytical gender lens to evaluate economic infrastructure and outcomes, by including the nation’s first Women’s Budget Statement in the 1984-85 Federal Budget;

(b) the National Gender Budget Statement stopped being produced in 2014, but was reinstated by the Federal government in the 2021-22 Federal Budget Papers;

(c) Victoria has produced a Gender Budget Impact Statement as part of its State Budget Papers since its introduction in the 1986-87 Budget year; and

(d) gender responsive budgeting would provide another tool within the State legislative and policy framework to facilitate improved economic security for, and economic participation of, Tasmanian women and gender-diverse communities.

(3) That the Legislative Council calls upon the Tasmanian Government to:

(a) Develop genuine whole-of-government gender-responsive budgeting processes; and

(b) introduce an analytical Budget Gender Impact Statement as part of the 2022-23 State Budget papers.