Coalition seeks to woo aspirational women

The Coalition is investigating policies that would make it easier for female entrepreneurs to access capital.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Coalition is investigating policies that would make it easier for female entrepreneurs to access capital and is encouraging women to take more control over household finances, in a move to redefine the gender wars before the next election.

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume will use a speech on Monday to accuse Labor of patronising Australian women by focusing on welfare to improve gender equality, vowing the Coalition will instead have policies providing women with opportunity to “genuinely choose their own path”.

Senator Hume will declare women and millennials as the “two cohorts of Australians in particular who will be key drivers of our country’s economic future”, as the Coalition moves to improve its standing among voters who deserted Scott Morrison at the last election.

“The increasing presence and dominance of the young and of women in our economy will chart the course of Australia’s future,” Senator Hume will tell the Sydney Institute event, according to a copy of her speech.

“If they are empowered, as the baby boomers were, Australia will remain the lucky country.”

In a pitch to aspirational women, Senator Hume will say that gender equality was too often “expressed in terms of employment versus unemployment, full-time versus part-time”.

“But here’s a statistic worth thinking about: today, one in three small business owners in Australia are women, and that number is growing,” she will say.

“Between 2006 and 2021, the number of female small business owners increased by 24 per cent.”

Senator Hume will say it was problematic that there remained barriers for women-led small business owners to accessing fin­ance, and bolstering the number of female entrepreneurs could add between $70bn and $135bn to the economy.

“However, if Labor’s Women’s Budget Statement is to be believed, equality is only achieved through welfare policy,” she will say.

“It is patronising in the extreme to insist women need to be compensated for their gender.

“For Liberals, real women’s empowerment comes from creating opportunities for partici­pation, the removal of barriers, institutional and cultural, so women can genuinely choose their own path.”

Senator Hume will also identify the need to improve the financial literacy of women so they are not reliant on the “man in their lives” to control household finances. “I am often asked what my one piece of advice to women is. It’s to become financially literate – or better still – financially capable,” she will say. “Get your fin­ances in order. Know how to budget. Learn how to save and invest. Understand your superannuation.

“Because once you have that foundation stone of economic independence, it gives you ­choices and opportunities.”

Senator Hume will declare she is amazed by how many women – including industry leaders – who allow their male partner to make financial decisions. “Whether it be through a lack of confidence or reinforcing traditional roles, ‘Bob’s always done the family finances’ should never be a woman’s default position,” she will say.

“Let’s face it, Bob might not be very financially literate himself. He might have a gambling problem. He might have taken credit cards out in your name.

“He might leave you, or you might leave him. He could die.

“In the worst cases, absence of empowerment leads women to feel like they have to stay with their partners in unhappy marriages, or worse where they’re subject to domestic or family ­violence, because they do not have financial literacy.

“Investing in the financial education of Australian women is an investment in our society’s prosperity and our economy.”

The Coalition’s standing among women collapsed at the last election due in part to Mr Morrison’s mishandling of the Brittany Higgins rape allegations, benefiting Labor and teal independents.

The Albanese government has delivered on a raft of reforms aimed at improving gender equality, including more money for childcare, extending paid-parental leave to 26 weeks, paying superannuation on paid-parental leave payments and increasing funding for women fleeing domestic violence.

Labor is likely to reject Senator Hume’s claims that its gender equality policies are welfare.

In her speech on Monday, Senator Hume will say young Australians were at risk of reliving the recession of the early 1990s when youth unemployment in Victoria was 30 per cent.

“Today, with Labor in power at both state and federal level, I see the experience of 1992 being relived,” she will say. “Rising inflation, higher taxes, unaffordable housing, and crippling debt.

“Worst of all, we are seeing the first generation of young people who sincerely believe, even if they do everything right, they will never do as well as their parents. Their choices and opportunities – their dreams – have been hijacked by a downturn in economic freedom.”