By Terri Macdonald. The Senate Economics References Committee recently released its report on its Inquiry into the Economic Security for Women in Retirement, appropriately entitled “A husband is not a retirement plan”.
The report comes at a time where there is a significant divide between men and women in terms of superannuation - Australian women retire with an average $92,000 less than men, 40% of single women are retiring in poverty, and 60% of women aged 65-69 have no superannuation at all.  Much of this is due to the entrenched gender pay gap, currently sitting at 17%. More...

By Terri Macdonald. Leaving aside the Government’s targeting of higher education for an additional $2 billion of cuts in funding, the fact that $100,000 degrees are still on the table and the likelihood of unfair changes in the HECS-HELP scheme which will increase the debt burden on students and see repayments start when earning below the average wage (noting that women are now the majority of both tertiary level students and those with unpaid HECS-HELP debts) - this Budget (again) fails women. More...