26 March
Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) acknowledges the 2025-26 Federal Budget and welcomes dedicated investments in women’s health, education and cost of living relief. However, we are disappointed that women with disabilities are largely not visible in this budget. Although there is recognition that women with disabilities experience significant barriers and unmet need, the budget gives little attention to meeting that need, or addressing the conditions that create inequity.
Access to healthcare
We welcome investments in making critical healthcare more affordable and available, including through new endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, targets to increase bulk billing, and more affordable medications. We are encouraged by the Government’s investment in healthcare services and access to medications that will support more people to get the healthcare they need – including those with disability linked to chronic health conditions.
However, we are concerned that there is no targeted investment in addressing the widespread barriers that women with disabilities experience in accessing health services. Despite the welcome investment in sexual and reproductive healthcare, including more affordable contraceptive medication, there is no attempt to address forced use of contraception or other forced practices that continue to violate the sexual and reproductive rights of women with disabilities in Australia today.
The Disability Royal Commission recommended banning forced sterilisation practices across all jurisdictions. There has been no co-ordinated response to deliver this, and this budget contains little dedicated attention to women with disabilities’ sexual and reproductive health -or indeed the Disability Royal Commission itself.
Disability supports and services
The Government is investing $423.8 million to support people with disability. This includes:
- $364.5 million to reform the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building Program (ILC), to provide general supports for people with disability and their families, carers and kin. These supports will complement additional foundational supports to be co-funded with states and territories.
- $42.2 million to deliver the National Autism Strategy
- $17.1 million to establish the Accessible Australia program to increase inclusive public infrastructure
We welcome the Government following through on its committed resourcing for the National Autism Strategy and investments in inclusive public infrastructure. Building accessible public infrastructure is critical to ensuring people with disabilities can fully participate in their communities.
The specific Commonwealth commitment for $364.5 million to reform the ILC program to deliver general foundational supports is positive, but questions remain as to what foundational supports will cover and the amount to be co-funded with the states and territories.
Without attention to the design, scope and overall funding arrangements for foundational supports, it is unclear how they will address gendered disparities in NDIS access and outcomes, much less how the many women with disabilities who are not currently eligible for the NDIS will be supported. Women with disabilities already experience inequality in access to disability supports: only a minority of people with disabilities have access to support through the NDIS, and women and girls make up only 37% of NDIS participants. WWDA calls for strong commitments to a gender-responsive system of supports, both within and outside the NDIS.
We are deeply concerned about cuts to the NDIS, particularly in the absence of a developed ecosystem of support.
Safety and freedom from violence
We are pleased to see funding already committed for women’s safety has remained in the budget, and commend the Government’s continued efforts to ending violence against women and children. For example, the Leaving Family Violence payment, which was made permanent in the previous budget, has been retained. However, WWDA remains concerned that critical access barriers for women with disabilities are unaddressed. The current eligibility criteria for financial support to leave, excludes people experiencing abuse from family members and co-residents—precisely the relationships where women with disabilities often experience violence. Many women with disabilities incur additional costs in leaving violence, including due to assistive technologies, home modifications, or support arrangements that are costly to relocate or replace. Some women with disabilities remain in situations of violence because they are concerned about losing their disability supports if they leave.
This reinforces the urgent need to implement the Disability Royal Commission’s recommendation for a disability-inclusive definition of domestic and family violence.
Likewise, we welcome a continued portion of National Housing Infrastructure Facility funding being allocated toward crisis and transitional accommodation for women and children experiencing domestic and family violence. However, there is a lack of attention to accessible housing. We must see dedicated investment to address the intersecting barriers women with disabilities experiencing abuse face in establishing a life free from violence.
Economic security and participation
While the budget acknowledges the cost-of-living pressures faced by many Australians, WWDA is concerned that it falls short in addressing key economic issues for women with disabilities, including inadequate income support.
The Women’s Budget Statement acknowledges the ‘unique barriers’ faced by marginalised communities in achieving economic justice and security – including women with disabilities. It acknowledges that experiences of economic inequality have profound impacts, including an inability to escape from violence, housing insecurity and homelessness, lower superannuation balances, and less security in retirement. However, it fails to address these issues through targeted structural reforms to improve economic justice for women with disabilities.
Women, girls and gender-diverse people with disabilities continue to face systemic barriers to economic security, workforce participation and housing. Without clear, long-term commitments to gender and disability-responsive policy, the risks of exclusion, violence and poverty remain unacceptably high.
We are disappointed to see the opportunity missed to invest in tackling the compounding barriers that lock women with disabilities out of meaningful employment and financial security. Women with disabilities are too often positioned only as service recipients, ignoring contributions made to the economy.
Valuing paid and unpaid care work
The Women’s Budget statement recognises the importance of valuing paid and unpaid care work, but fails to recognise women with disabilities as both providers and recipients of care.
The previous budget applied Superannuation to Paid Parental Leave, appropriately acknowledging the vital contribution parents make to society. However, this budget again fails to extend the same respect to Carers Payment recipients. When over 70% of primary carers are women and almost half are people with disability themselves, this unequal treatment deepens the retirement gap for those in our community who are providing essential care work. It is concerning that one form of care is deemed more valuable than another.
Promise of co-design
WWDA notes that the Government’s promises of co-design, throughout a period of significant disability reform, have not translated to explicit commitments in this budget. This is disappointing, given the concerns raised by the disability community about existing co-design processes.
Meaningful co-design requires adequate time, resources, and genuine power-sharing. WWDA is committed to working constructively with Government, and advocates for disability-led reform which prioritises genuine partnerships – where our expertise shapes policy from the beginning. We must ensure that the voices of women, girls, and gender-diverse people with disabilities are not only heard in national policy decisions, but are central to decision-making.
Statement from Sophie Cusworth, CEO of WWDA:
“WWDA recognises the importance of a sustainable NDIS: no one is more invested in the sustainability of the NDIS than the people with disability who use it to access essential supports and services. We agree that every dollar allocated to NDIS participants should reach them and be spent in a meaningful way. However, people with disability are primarily visible as a ‘cost’ in this budget and we are concerned that the human-rights, person-centred intentions of the NDIS are displaced by this framing.
This undertone of cost fails to acknowledge our inherent worth and rights, and fails to value the significant contributions women with disabilities make in our communities.
Women with disabilities are part of every community. More than 1 in 5 women in Australia have a disability. Investment in our lives is necessary to enact Australia’s human-rights obligations and to enable our full participation.”
Call to Action:
WWDA calls on the Australian Government to:
- Identify women with disabilities as a priority group in all mainstream policies and programs
- Accelerate the implementation timeline for the Disability Royal Commission recommendations – with appropriate resourcing and consultation
- Ensure women with disabilities have genuine representation in decision-making processes
- Address the specific barriers to economic participation, safety, and wellbeing faced by women with disabilities
For media enquiries, contact: officeadmin@wwda.org.au.
About Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA):
Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) is the national Disability Representative Organisation and National Women’s Alliance for women, girls and gender diverse people with disabilities in Australia. We work to protect, promote and advance the rights of women, girls and gender diverse people with disabilities in Australia, amplify their voices, and dismantle systemic barriers. We advocate for human rights, challenge discrimination, and promote policies that enable all women with disabilities to thrive. For more information, visit www.wwda.org.au
