I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, on whose lands I am recording these remarks. Special congratulations to Dr Leonora Risse on bringing the Gender Equality Evidence Hub to life. Leonora, you've long been a leader in showing that gender economics isn't about ideology, it's about insight; about using data to light a path towards a fairer, smarter country. While I can't be there in person, I'm genuinely delighted to be a virtual part of today's launch, and to celebrate what you and your team have built.
If you ask 10 people what Australia needs to achieve gender equality, you'll get 10 answers. More affordable childcare. More women in leadership. Zero tolerance for sexual harassment. All true. But there's another answer that underpins them all: the need for an independent, open bridge between research and policy. We have no shortage of passion or opinion in this space. What we've lacked is infrastructure: a way of gathering what we know, checking what actually works, and sharing that knowledge widely. That's the gap the hub fills.
The evidence shows how stubborn the patterns can be. Even in 2025, you're still more likely to find an ASX 200 company CEO named John than one who's a woman. The gender pay gap may be at an all‑time low, but it's still too high. On screen, analysis from the Geena Davis Institute shows that women are a minority of lead roles. Daughters even receive less pocket money than sons. Much of this reflects systems that quietly tilt the playing field in the wrong direction, from unpaid care that still falls disproportionately on women, to workplaces that reward presenteeism over performance. The challenge is not to moralise about those patterns, but to understand them, and to use data and design to change them.
That's what excites me about the Gender Equality Evidence Hub. It shares the same philosophy that led us to establish the Australian Centre for Evaluation. Both rest on the idea that better decisions come from better evidence. The centre works across government to test policies rigorously and build a culture of learning. The hub brings that same spirit to gender equality. Both are built on a simple faith: that fairness and effectiveness go hand in hand when we're willing to look the evidence squarely in the eye.
Evidence can often surprise us. A good example is a Lancet study by Sally Brinkman and colleagues, which tested a program many thought would reduce teenage pregnancy. The idea sounded clever: give teenage girls a life‑like baby doll to care for, and they'll think twice about becoming parents. But when the researchers followed those students over time, they found the opposite. The girls who took part were more likely to experience a pregnancy ending in birth or abortion than those who received standard health education. It's the kind of result that humbles us; a reminder that even the best intentions can misfire, and that only careful evaluation can tell the difference between what feels good and what does good.
That's the heart of the hub's mission: not to deliver verdicts, but to create a culture of learning. I love that it doesn't compete with existing organisations - it connects them. I love that it's independent enough to say when something doesn't work. And I especially love its open‑access ethos: that knowledge funded by the public should be shared with the public. In an age of short attention spans and long policy wishlists, this commitment to careful evidence is quietly radical.
I'm proud to serve in a Labor caucus that's now 57 per cent women - a direct result of quotas first implemented back in 1994. It's proof that thoughtful design can shift deep‑seated patterns. Change doesn't happen by accident; it happens because people set goals, measure progress and learn along the way. That's as true for parliament as it is for every other institution.
The hub can help make credible evidence more visible, and build capacity so that community organisations - especially smaller, grassroots ones - can gather and use data of their own. It's a vision of collaboration, not competition: a research ecosystem that learns faster and listens better.
Leonora, what you've built here is both rigorous and deeply human. You've recognised that evidence doesn't diminish passion. It strengthens it. It gives advocates sharper tools and policymakers sturdier footing. The Gender Equality Evidence Hub will not just collect knowledge, it will connect it; helping us all build a more equal and more thoughtful Australia.
Congratulations to you and your team. May the hub's work remind us that good policy - like good relationships - depends on listening carefully, learning honestly and never assuming we already know it all.
