Thursday, 30 July 2026

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:53): (2466) My question is to the Minister for Women and Girls. Minister, I recently attended a forum in Frankston with local high school students, and I was particularly moved by the cost-of-living issue called ‘period poverty’. Female students reported that they do not always have the funds to buy sanitary products, particularly the safer, healthier brands, because sanitary products are notoriously expensive. Students said parents were preoccupied with finances and cost-of-living challenges, leaving girls to navigate this confusing time without sufficient support or information. While free sanitary products can be available in dispensers in Victorian schools, students explained that these supplies are often emptied and used inappropriately by their peers, leaving young women without access to critical sanitary products or the support they need. Few schools have nurses. Minister, these girls reminded me that they are 50 per cent of the population and asked me to ask you: what are you going to do to effectively address period poverty for Victorian teenage schoolgirls?