The Australian Capital Territory could become the first jurisdiction in Australia to make menstrual products free for people experiencing period poverty, under draft legislation to be released on Wednesday.
The Period Products (Access) Bill, released for public consultation by Labor ACT legislative assembly member Suzanne Orr, would require the territory government to provide period products free of charge at designated locations.
Orr said she planned to introduce the bill in the ACT legislative assembly in the first half of next year.
“In the first instance, we’d be looking at a range of government outlets where we can make these available,” she said, listing public libraries, health centres and education and training providers.
“You can already in the ACT get access to period products at school if you need them, but this will formalise that and make it far more accessible.”
In New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria, there are also existing initiatives that provide students at government schools with free pads and tampons.
Legislation was “the next step we can go to, though, in really making sure that [such products are] quite widely available,” Orr said.
The proposed legislation also contains a provision allowing service providers to apply for inclusion in the scheme.
Period poverty – a lack of access to sanitary products, facilities and menstrual hygiene education – disproportionately affects marginalised groups including those who are unemployed, homeless, or displaced due to domestic violence.
Last year, Scotland became the first country in the world to make period products free for all who need them.
Lauren Rosewarne, an associate professor in public policy at the University of Melbourne, describes access to menstrual products as “a human rights and dignity issue”.
“There is a tendency to think about period poverty as a developing world concern, however it is something that impacts large numbers of people in Australia who are experiencing financial hardship,” she said.
In August, a Big Bloody Survey of more than 125,000 Australians, commissioned by the women’s charity Share the Dignity, found that one in five respondents “had to improvise on period products due to cost”.
Of respondents in the ACT, 15% said they were unable to afford period products at some point in their life. “People … think that Canberra is quite an affluent city, and for the most part we are, but that doesn’t mean that people don’t do it tough,” Orr said.
Rosewarne said: “Access to free products enables people to hygienically manage the physical side of menstruation – and thus to be able to fully participate in life, be it work or school or social activity, without disproportionately worrying about unintentionally exposing their periods.”
Aiming to address the stigma associated with menstruation, the draft legislation also includes requirements that educational information about menstrual hygiene be made available in multiple languages at government shopfronts.
