SARAH DINGLE, HOST: Quite a few texts rolling in on all our topics this morning, but in particular, would you like to see a ban on pornography which depicts strangulation or suffocation? The number is 1300-222-702. I can see Adrian has said: strangulation is attempted murder – don't say it's illegal, say it's attempted murder.
The federal government is considering such a ban after a 16-year-old girl in Sydney died in a suspected case of sexual strangulation. Rebecca White is the federal Assistant Minister for Women and joins us now. Welcome to the show.
REBECCA WHITE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING: Thanks very much for having me.
DINGLE: So first of all, Rebecca White, is the federal government going to ban pornography depicting strangulation?
WHITE: Well, this is the discussion that we’re having at the moment, because we’re seeing the terrible examples but also the statistics that show us that violence between young people, particularly under the age of 18, is increasingly heightened and that use of strangulation has become more commonplace than any of us would have ever predicted, with about 60 per cent of young people reporting that they've experienced it in some kind of sexual encounter. So these are discussions that are ongoing, and I think this will include discussions with jurisdictions too, because it will require all of us to think really carefully about how we achieve this.
DINGLE: But given all those harms, the Social Services Minister, Tanya Plibersek, your colleague, says she supports such a ban. Do you?
WHITE: Well, I'm not at the Cabinet table. These will just be discussions that happen around the Cabinet table. But in working in my role to both Katy Gallagher and to the Minister for Health, Mark Butler, I can certainly say that I've heard too many stories where women have experienced instances of extraordinarily traumatic health outcomes from strangulation. Concussion is another area where we're seeing an increase in violence against women having a significant impact, and I've been raising that with them. I would definitely support any effort we can make to keep women safer.
DINGLE: Now, Assistant Minister, earlier this year, in about May I believe, the government rolled out the first national menopause and perimenopause campaign for Australian women ever. It's only 2026. But can you remind us what this campaign involves and what progress has been made since?
WHITE: Yeah, thank you so much. It is extraordinary that it's 2026 and that's the first time ever we've had a national campaign on perimenopause and menopause. In fact, I think I've been told it's the first in the world where we're doing something like this. It only affects 50 per cent of the population. It's about time we talked about it.
What we've been able to do from an inquiry that was conducted by the Senate in 2023 is act on those recommendations. So we've invested nearly $800 million in a women's health package, which is focused on a number of areas around contraception, endometriosis, and perimenopause and menopause. So we've listed new medicines on the PBS that women have been able to access, and that's been a game changer for thousands and thousands of women. We've also expanded the scope for our endo and pelvic pain clinics to also cover perimenopause and menopause from 1 July this year. We've created a new Medicare item number, so when you go and see your GP, you can actually have a menopause assessment now, and I hope that women are becoming more aware of that and talking to their GP about it.
But we also launched a national campaign, which is what you referenced, Sarah, and it’s a website. It includes ads, digital assets and a whole range of different communications in different languages, and we're going to expand upon that in October with a range of different engagements through the multicultural community to make sure that women are aware of where they can go and get really good evidence-based information, because there's such a lot of misinformation, but there's also really terrific help that women can access if they just know where to look. So that's the point of this campaign.
DINGLE: And while I've got you, Assistant Minister, we saw independent Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie gave an impassioned speech in parliament recently about the federal government's cap for allied health services for veterans. She spoke in a quite raw fashion about experiencing a vaginal prolapse in parliament after a back injury which she sustained during time in the army. Why has the government introduced a cap for allied health services for veterans?
WHITE: Well, there's two things I'll mention here. The first is to recognise Jacqui speaking so openly about something that we don't talk enough about, and that is prolapse and the impact it can have on a woman's health and wellbeing. So I just want to acknowledge that and commend her for her bravery in sharing that and making it more of a normal conversation, which we just need to continue to do to de-stigmatise.
And the second point is her reason for speaking about it. So this is the changes that we've announced for allied health services provided for veterans. So it's about introducing a cap, as you say, of $5000, but it's actually not limiting access for people to healthcare that they need, because it's actually about simplifying it. Currently, when veterans are going back to their GP for an allied health referral for a visit, they have to go back every 12 visits for a new referral. So what this is intending to do is to acknowledge that you’re unlikely to get to a $5000 limit before you hit a 12 allied health visit limit, and so you can keep going back and see an allied health practitioner 15, 20 times before you’re even likely to need to go back to the GP to get another referral. It’s actually about making it a lot easier for veterans to access the care they need without adding an extra barrier for them to reach, and this is out for consultation at the moment. No changes have happened. Still 10 months away before any proposed changes will take effect, so I encourage people to participate in this consultation because we are aiming to make reforms so it is easier for veterans to access the healthcare that they need, not harder.
DINGLE: Rebecca White, thanks for joining us here on ABC 702 Mornings.
WHITE: Thank you for having me.
DINGLE: That’s Rebecca White there, who is the Assistant Minister for Women.