Mrs McINTOSH ( Lindsay ) ( 09:11 ): Across Australia today, women who have worked hard, raised families and contributed to their communities are finding themselves one rent increase, one relationship breakdown or one unexpected setback away from losing the security of a home. In Penrith, in my electorate of Lindsay, and right across our nation, women sleep rough in doorways, on benches, outside shopfronts. Behind every woman we see, there are many more we do not see—women couch surfing, living in cars or staying in unsafe situations because they have nowhere else to go. The alarm has been sounding for years. Older women are now described as the unexpected face of homelessness in Australia despite having worked their whole lives. Single women over 55 are one of the fastest-growing groups experiencing homelessness. Women who spent decades caring for others now face limited super, rising costs and nowhere affordable to live. This is not distant. This is not theoretical. It is happening in every electorate represented in this parliament. It reminds us that the story of women in Australia is not one moment in time; it is a story through the ages, from the little girl who should be able to dream without limits to the young woman stepping out in her first job to the mother balancing work, caring and everything in between to the older woman who deserves dignity, safety and connection, not loneliness. One woman, Glad, captured this truth. At 92, living alone, she invited me into her home and spoke openly about the hardest part of ageing: loneliness—not frailty, not routine. Loneliness—the feeling of being unseen after a lifetime of being needed. Her words have stayed with me because they reflect a reality faced by many older women. In my office hangs a painting titled L eap of Faith . It has travelled with me for years as a reminder that every woman at every age takes a leap of faith—a little girl imagining who she might become, a young woman finding her place in the world, a mother holding her family together, women who even in their 90s, like Glad, still hope to be seen, to be heard, to be valued. These stories from childhood to older age are connected. The way women are supported at every stage of life determines whether the scales are balanced or tipped against them. The theme for International Women's Day this year is Balance the Scales. It speaks to fairness, responsibility, the dignity of every woman and girl and her right to be safe, to be heard and to shape her own life. This year Australia also witnessed a moment of extraordinary courage: five Iranian women here for the AFC Women's Asian Cup made a decision that will shape the rest of their lives. Their bravery is a reminder that the fight for women's freedom is not equal, not even and certainly not over. International Women's Day gives us a moment to pause. And here, at home, there is much to acknowledge. Australia is now ranked 13th—unfortunately, not first—in the world for gender equality. The national gender pay gap has narrowed to 11½ per cent. Based on the last decade of income growth, the gap is projected to close by 2054, still a generation away. While the data shows improvement, the lived reality for many women has not shifted. Barriers remain in workforce participation, in career progression and in workforce flexibility. Women are not just participating in the economy; they are driving it. More than one in three small businesses are owned or led by women—women opening cafes before dawn, women running security teams throughout the night, women launching startups from spare rooms at home, women building family businesses that employ locals and strengthen communities. Girls today grow up seeing women everywhere. They are surgeons, scientists, police officers, entrepreneurs, cabinet ministers and CEOs. They are in all industries, sectors and businesses. That visibility matters. When a young girl can see it, she can believe it is possible for her too. It's not just about aspiring to leadership, though. When women participate fully in the workforce, nations benefit, economic efficiency improves, productivity rises and long-term global growth is strengthened. This is not abstract. Before coming to politics, I worked in community housing and created the WISH, Women in Social Housing, program. I am very proud of this work. It was about supporting women, often from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and often through no fault of their own, into work, through mentorship and support. Many had experienced intergenerational welfare. Many had been told directly or indirectly that work wasn't for them. But, with support and someone who believed in them, employment changed lives, changed confidence, changed families and changed futures. Women's economic participation is not just an economic issue; it is a human one, about dignity, independence and the ability to shape your own life at any age. While the scales are shifting, they are not yet balanced. Women face the gender pay gap, the superannuation gap, the unpaid care gap, housing insecurity and the threat of violence in their own homes. Domestic and family violence remains one of the most confronting challenges facing women in Australia. Too many women still live with the threat of violence from someone they know. Too many children grow up in homes where safety cannot be taken for granted. One woman in my electorate, Judith, planned for weeks to get her children out of an alcoholic and violent home. In the dark of night, she walked her three small children two kilometres to a nearby payphone, called a relative to pick her up and spent the next few weeks sleeping with her children on mattresses on the floor. A few months on, Judith and her three children were in a small home of their own. They were safe, content and loved. For women fleeing violence, rebuilding a life is incredibly difficult, especially when housing is scarce and services are stretched. Housing is one of the clearest examples of imbalance. Nearly four in five single women renting in Australia are living below the poverty line. Once housing security is lost, it is painfully hard to regain, because housing is not just a roof; it is a foundation for everything else—work, education, health and opportunity. Add to that the unpaid care women carry in this country, nearly four hours every day on average. Cooking, caring and organising—women sometimes feel they're up against it. This is work worth around $771 a week. This is work that rarely appears in economic statistics but is estimated at $688 billion, roughly a third of our entire economy. This is critical work that keeps this country running. As British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is quoted as saying: Any woman who understands the problems of running a home will be nearer to understanding the problems of running a country. Women are more likely to work part time and more likely to step out of paid work to care for children or ageing parents. Those decisions carry consequences—lower wages, lower super and less financial security later in life. More women than men now graduate from university. They do take longer, though, to pay their HECS debts, not because they lack ambition but because they step out to care for family. Women retire with significantly less superannuation. Women missed out on $1.9 billion in unpaid super in 2022-23 alone. Single mothers remain far more likely to experience poverty. Because women earn less on average, saving for a home deposit takes longer—more than seven years, compared to just six for men. Women in business face rising energy costs, supply chain pressures and regulatory burdens, and, within major corporations, progress in leadership roles has stalled. In women's health, extraordinary milestones have been achieved. Deaths from breast cancer have fallen by almost 30 per cent since 2000, and Australian women enjoy one of the highest life expectancies in the world. But new research shows young women are skipping meals and delaying medical care just to make ends meet. These are not just statistics. They are mothers, they are daughters, they are sisters, they are friends—women who deserve to live long, healthy, dignified lives. When in government, the coalition delivered practical reforms that lifted women's workforce participation to record highs and empowered more women to start and run businesses. Investments were made in women's health, in technology facilitated abuse laws and in programs that improve lives. Many of these efforts continue today. Looking ahead, four areas are essential to balancing the scales for women and for Australian families. The first is a tax and payment system that reflects real family life. Families today juggle work, caring and ageing parents all at once. Policy must reflect that reality. The second is child care that works for real lives—a nurse finishing a night shift, a small-business owner opening early or a regional family with limited services. Families need flexibility, choice and child care that fits real life. The third is jobs closer to home. Long commutes drain time, energy and connection. Local jobs mean more time with family, stronger communities and more opportunities for young women. The fourth is housing, because, when a family has a stable place to live, everything else becomes possible. Women don't want handouts. They want a fair chance. They want policies that respect their choices, and a system that backs their effort—not one that makes life harder. Compassion can be combined with economic realities when setting policy, because good policy must honour both. It must recognise the pressures women face, while ensuring the system is strong enough to support opportunity, dignity and stability for the long term. International Women's Day reminds us that progress does not happen overnight. It happens step by step through policies that expand opportunity, through communities that support women and through leadership that believes in the potential of every Australian girl, woman and older woman—like Glad. When women succeed, families succeed, communities succeed and Australia certainly does succeed.