Australian women need greater recognition in the budget by restoring an impact statement, federal Labor has argued.
Labor senator Jenny McAllister says she and her opposition colleagues will be scrutinising the budget for its impact on women.
"Women occupy a very different position in the economy to men," she told reporters at Parliament House on Tuesday.
"They earn less, they have different work patterns and they have different consumer patterns including different health expenditure patterns."
A women's budget statement was a feature of the annual budget from 1983 until 2013 when it was axed by the coalition government.
"It was one way of making sure that women's needs were not overlooked as they have too frequently been in the past," Senator McAllister said.
A 2016 International Monetary Fund paper found that Australia had previously set the standard in gender budget reporting.
"Following Australia's lead, South Africa was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to embrace gender budgeting, spurring initiatives in Uganda and Tanzania, which were then followed by efforts in other countries in the region," the report stated.
This year Canada included a 'gender statement' in its budget for the first time.
Senator McAllister said Labor in government would restore a women's budget statement.
"We will be examining very carefully the impact of this budget on women and we'll have more to say about this in the coming days," she said.
