Victorian Labor Promises Free Female Sanitary Products in Bid to Win Women’s Vote

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to media during a press conference in Melbourne, Australia on Oct. 31, 2022. AAP Image/James Ross

Premier Daniel Andrews has pledged to make free tampons and sanitary pads widely available in the Australian state of Victoria as part of his government’s bid to win over female voters.

The move comes as the incumbent centre-left Labor government faces a major challenge from independent candidates and the left-wing Australian Greens to win over progressive-leaning voters in electorates in the city of Melbourne.

In fact, in a bid to win over the youth vote, the Greens have promised free contraception as part of its election platform.

Meanwhile, the Andrews’ program, which will cost taxpayers $23 million (US$15.40 million), will see 1,500 pad and tampon machines set up at about 700 public sites including public hospitals, courts, TAFEs, public libraries, and train stations. 

It will also build on the Labor government’s Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Plan 2022-30 which pushes for gender equality, more contraception, and abortion services.  

A Cost of Living Measure?

Andrews, who has endured public backlash for his strict pandemic lockdown policies, said the program aimed to “normalise periods and provide cost of living relief.”

“Pads and tampons agents a luxury, they’re a necessity—and women should be able to get them wherever they are. We’re making them more readily available, and we’re saving women money, too” the Labor leader said in a press release. 

The announcement triggered mixed reactions from the public, with some saying the decision was a step-up for women’s rights while others calling it simply an attempt to win votes.

As everyday Australians grapple with spiking rent, food prices, gas, electricity, and petrol prices—all rising along with an inflation rate reaching a 21-year high, political parties have ramped up their cost of living pitches in the lead-up to the Nov. 26 state election.

The Victorian Greens party have pledged to subsidise contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices (IUDs), and hormonal implants, costing $10 million (US$6.7 million).

In early November, Victorian opposition leader Matthew Guy introduced a $261 million plan to cut the property tax (stamp duty) to zero for 12 months, as well as $2 a day public transport fares, and $500 dental vouchers among others. 

Meanwhile, Labor has promised to provide free TAFE courses and make car registration free for apprentices.

It also pledged $37 million to provide free boating and fishing licences for veterans, $42 million to install a hundred neighbourhood batteries across Victoria, and $71 million to establish 20 health clinics across the state.

State Finances Getting Worse

All the new spending promises comes despite the state’s ballooning debt.

According to Victoria’s pre-election budget update on Nov. 10, the state’s finances recorded a deficit of around $10.2 billion (US$6.83 billion) in 2022-23, which is half a billion more than the $9.7 billion estimated in a fiscal update in October.

Meanwhile, net debt is projected to be $116 billion by June 2023, growing to $165.9 billion by June 2026.

“Victoria’s debt, in both absolute terms and as a share of the economy, is now higher than at the peak of the economic fallout from the early-1990s’ Cain-Kirner economic collapse,” wrote Daniel Wild and Kevin You in a research paper published on the Institute of Public Affairs on Oct. 6.

“Victoria also has the highest level of taxation as a share of the economy, the fastest growing state government spending rate as a share of the economy in the nation, the fastest growing public sector wages in the nation, as well as the fastest growing public sector workforce on mainland Australia.”