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Joint Departmental Information Centre Level 5. 1 Macarthur St EAST MELBOURNE VIC 3002 Ph: 03 96515660 Fax: 03 96515659 email: [email protected] I OMEN BUDGET <•- » 1 9 9 1 - 1 9 9 2 DEPARTMENT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET VICTORIA < r REFERENCE WOMEN'S BUDGET WOMEN'S POLICY CO-ORDINATION UNIT 19 9 1-19 9 2 DEPARTMENT OF THE PREMIER AXD CABINET VICTORIA ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Women's Budget 1991-92 was prepared by the Women's Policy Co-ordination Unit, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, from entries provided by government agencies in August 1991. The Unit welcomes readers' comments on the report, and will endeavour to accommodate recommendations for improvement of the Women's Budget 1992-93. Address all enquiries and requests for copies of this document to the Women's Policy Co-ordination Unit, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne 3002. ISSN 1030-3189 FOREWORD The 1991-92 Women's Budget demonstrates the Government's continuing commitment to improving the status of women. Despite economic constraints, Ministers have ensured that programs and services for women will operate effectively in 1991-92. Priorities for the Government continue to be policies and programs that improve women's safety and security; increase women's access to education and training; remove barriers to more equal participation by women in the workforce; meet the child-care requirements of Victorian families; and ensure that the particular health needs of women are met. In 1991 the Government introduced to Parliament amendments to the Crimes (Sexual Offences) Act to reduce the stress experienced by complainants in court cases where sexual assault is alleged, particularly complainants who are children or people with intellectual disabilities. Further amendments to the law of rape and sexual assault will be introduced to Parliament later in 1991. A community awareness campaign which included a television advertisement aimed at changing male attitudes to violence; the promotion of articles and programs on the issue in the media; and the distribution of information on services for victims of violence was launched in June 1991 by the Minister for Police and Emergency Services. This initiative will be further developed in 1991-92. Recognising that the economic security of women is closely associated with more equal participation by women in the workforce, Ministers for Labour, Education and Training, Small Business and Community Services have ensured that the interests of women remain a priority. An important initiative of the Government over the past year has been the establishment of the Office of Preschool and Child Care. The Office is responsible for improving the planning, co-ordination and delivery of all child care and preschool services and administering the $84m allocated for capital and recurrent expenditure. Funding will be maintained to Victoria's six women's health services, fourteen sexual assault centres, twenty four women's refuges, fourteen domestic violence outreach services, a 24 hour seven day a week referral and interim accommodation service, and health and domestic violence information services. An additional $lm is provided to match funding of $lm from the Commonwealth, under the National Women's Health Program. This funding will be used to extend women's health services in metropolitan and rural Victoria. As Premier and Minister Responsible for Women's Affairs, I am pleased to accept Victoria's sixth annual Women's Budget report from Government agencies. JOAN E KIRNÍ Premier CONTENTS Foreword Introduction 1 Overview of Programs and Services for Women 4 Aboriginal Affairs Victoria 17 Department of Agriculture 20 Ministry for the Arts 25 Attorney-General's Department 33 Community Services Victoria 40 Department of Conservation and Environment 52 Ministry of Consumer Affairs 58 Office of Corrections 66 Ministry of Education and Training 74 Office of the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity 94 Ministry of Ethnic, Municipal and Community Affairs 96 Department of Finance 112 Health Department Victoria 114 Department of Labour 125 Department of Manufacturing and Industry Development 140 Ministry of Planning and Housing 146 Ministry for Police and Emergency Services 157 Department of the Premier and Cabinet 167 Office of Preschool and Child Care 179 Department of Small Business 182 Department of Sport and Recreation 186 Victorian Tourism Commission 194 Ministry of Transport 196 Department of the Treasury 200 Equal Employment Opportunity for Women in the Victorian Public Sector 202 Chart of Key Programs and Services Index INTRODUCTION The 1991-92 Women's Budget is the sixth Women's Budget for Victoria. It sets out the effects on women of government spending over the previous financial year and outlines commitments for the coming year. The main purpose of the Women's Budget is to provide the women of Victoria with information about the services available through government departments and agencies, and to provide details of government spending on programs and services. The report is concerned with all operations of agencies. Every dollar that government agencies spend has an impact on women. Accordingly agencies have been required to examine the effect of all their operations on women, not just those programs specifically directed to women. Despite efforts at both a national and a State level, discrimination remains a factor in the lives of many women. Women's unequal access to income security and positions of status is evidence of this. Government agencies are now beginning to realise that many of their policies and programs have traditionally been geared more to the needs of men. The annual preparation of their entry for the women's Budget helps agencies to evaluate their programs in the light of their responsibilities to the community as a whole, and to find ways to address imbalances. Preparation of each ministry's entry is the responsibility of the relevant department in co-operation with statutory bodies within that portfolio. The Women's Policy Co-ordination Unit of the Department of Premier and Cabinet manages the overall process on behalf of the Premier who is also Minister Responsible for Women's Affairs. The major part of the report is devoted to entries from the twenty-three budget sector agencies. Each entry begins with an introduction which defines the objectives or aims of the agency and identifies relevant statutory bodies for which the Minister has responsibility. Total recurrent budget figures for the past and future financial year for the agency are included in this section to provide readers with a budgetary context for programs, schemes or initiatives with which they are involved or concerned. Where detailed funding information is available for a program it is set out at the end of the description of that service or program. Three sets of figures are generally included. The first, Budget Estimate 1990-91, represents the appropriation made in August 1990 for the 1990-91 financial year. Actual Expenditure 1990-91 is the actual amount spent to 30 June 1991 and Budget Estimate 1991-92 shows the allocation for the program or service for the coming year. INTRODUCTION • 1 A department's recurrent expenditure is allocated by the Treasurer into program areas with agencies having, on average, five programs. Departments divide this allocation into sub-programs and then into components, which is the level at which most services for women will be found. Information in the Victorian Budget Papers is at the program outlays level. Allocations to sub-programs and components are not published, apart from in the Women's Budget, until later in the financial year, when agencies table their annual reports. The Appendix entitled Identification of Key Programs and Services at the back of the Women's Budget report identifies significant programs, referred to in this report, by agency, program, sub-program and component. This information can be read in conjunction with 1991-92 State Budget Papers No. 3, The Consolidated Fund 1991-92, and No. 5, Program Budget Outlays 1991-92. Calculations of the benefit to women in financial terms of budget allocations depend upon knowledge of how the service applies to women. Thus if 50 per cent of clients of a service are women, the assumption is that 50 per cent of the budget allocated for the program went to women. This will not always be the case, and the collection of gender-disaggregated data by agencies is very important. Overall there is a growing awarenness of the need for more comprehensive methods of data collection. Until these are in place, the capacity for agencies to accurately report how women have been affected by programs or by the general services provided is limited. It is apparent that the process of preparing material each year for the Women's Budget causes agencies to become aware of areas of deficiency in this respect, and encourages them to address this issue. The challenge for the Women's Policy Co-ordination Unit is to continue to persuade departments and ministries that the collection of gender-disaggregated data and the evaluation of programs will assist them to improve service delivery for all their clients. As 1991 is a Census year, and also the year in which the Australian Bureau of Statistics in conjunction with the Women's Policy Co-ordination Unit, is conducting its survey on Women's Patterns of Work, the Women's Policy Co- ordination Unit will be bringing out a publication based on the data gained from these two important sources. In anticipation