Hi, I’m Kat Theophanous - the Labor Member of Parliament for Northcote in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
Hi, I’m Kat Theophanous - the Labor Member of Parliament for Northcote in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
When it comes to gender equality, Victoria leads the nation, and I’m proud to be part of a government that’s delivering real change. As the State Labor Member for Northcote and the Parliamentary Secretary for Women’s Health, I’m working every day to build a fairer and more equal Victoria - starting right here in the inner north.
Ours is one of the most diverse communities in Melbourne. Our strategy to tackle gender equality recognises that not everyone experiences gender bias in the same way. It exists alongside other forms of discrimination and disadvantage, including racism, ableism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia and classism. That’s why our approach is comprehensive and considered, centred on listening, learning, and taking meaningful action.
Victoria’s Gender Equality Strategy sets out 110 targeted actions across government. Backed by $2.7 billion in investment, these initiatives are designed to improve outcomes for women and girls across every part of life - at home, in workplaces, on the sports field, and in healthcare settings.
We’ve already delivered universal access to free sanitary products in every government school - and we’re now expanding this to up to 700 additional public locations across the state. We’ve significantly expanded funding for women’s health, including better research, more tailored services and increased access to specialist care.
This builds on other landmark reforms like our $14 billion Best Start, Best Life agenda - making early childhood education and care more affordable and accessible for families.
Achieving gender equality demands sustained and strategic action. That’s exactly what the Allan Labor Government is delivering reform in:
Work and Skills
We’re improving workplace safety and strengthening rights through industrial relations reforms. We’ve introduced the Equal Workplaces Advisory Council and launched social services workforce reform. We’re also embedding gender equality across the training system, through the Victorian Skills Plan and Free TAFE - breaking down financial barriers for women and opening doors to industries where they’ve long been underrepresented.
Sport and Participation
Nearly half of all girls stop playing sport by age 15. We’re changing that by upgrading local grounds, building female-friendly changerooms, and backing programs that support girls and women to stay active and thrive through sport.
Women’s Health
We’re establishing 30 dedicated women’s health clinics by 2030, while delivering record funding for critical procedures like laparoscopies to treat endometriosis and related conditions - over 10,000 surgeries over four years.
Leadership
Women now make up more than 50% of appointments to government boards and courts, up from just 35.6% previously. A diverse public sector makes for better decision-making and better outcomes, and the Victorian public sector leads by example.
You can read more about our Gender Equality Action plan here, and the steps we’re taking to ensure that women and girls everywhere are treated fairly and provided with the same opportunities.
I was proud to work with Minister Fiona Richardson to deliver Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence, secure unprecedented funding for family violence services, and promote social and economic equality for women through Victoria’s first Gender Equality Strategy.
Out of the 227 recommendations made, I am thrilled to say that as of 2023, the Victorian Labor Government has implemented every single one.
This work of implementing the royal commission recommendations was part of my previous role as Co-Chair of the State Government’s Gender Equality Advisory Committee.
In February 2021, I was honored to be named Co Chair of the GGender Equality Advisory Committee. The committee drew on the experiences of women from across the local government sector and advise on how to deliver the Government’s target of 50 per cent female mayors and councillors by 2025, as well as the implementation of the Australian-first Gender Equality Act across local government.
We provided advice directly to the Minister for Women and the Minister for Local Government on how to progress our statewide work on gender equality in the context of local government.
Before becoming an MP, I worked extensively on gender equality policy to underscore the benefits – both economic and social – that can be gained when we drive equality in our workforces and in our workplaces. Whilst working for Fiona Richardson, I had the privileged of working on the first strategy, Safe and Strong 2016: Victoria's Gender Equality Strategy.
The Victorian Honour Roll of Women celebrates the outstanding contributions made by women from all walks of life and acknowledges the many ways in which they have made a lasting impact to our state.
Each year, the Victorian Honour Roll of Women recognises women who have demonstrated remarkable leadership and excellence in their field of expertise, interest, endeavor, or through their commitment to the community.
In 2021 I was co-chair of the Victorian Honour Roll of Women Assessment Panel. Over the five week period I had the pleasure of assessing nominations and making recommendations.
I was proud to speak on the Gender equality bill 2019.
We should not need a gender equality bill, but we do. We still see entrenched structural, social and economic disadvantage for women. We still see workplace discrimination, huge disparities in unpaid care responsibilities, blatant sexism across the public domain and low representation of women in positions of power and although we have a long way to go this was a step forward.
I had the opportunity to work alongside the former and formidable member for Northcote, Fiona Richardson, in her role as Australia’s first Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence. It was during this time that the Andrews government delivered the Royal Commission into Family Violence and invested an unprecedented $2.6 billion in the sector to forever transform how we approach this scourge - more than the commonwealth and more than any other state or territory.