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• This submission responds to the Terms of Reference of the Senate Select Committee on Women’s Health, with particular attention to the experiences of multicultural women in accessing and navigating reproductive healthcare. The submission draws on a combination of community consultation, professional expertise, lived experience, research and engagement with multicultural organisations and health practitioners. These include:  the AMWA Health Thematic Working Group consultation held in May 2026, involving approximately 50 community health workers, bicultural workers, researchers, midwives, allied health professionals, advocates and community members; and AMWA’s community consultations through Ethnic Communities Councils of Western Australia (ECCWA), May 2026;  insights from the Australian Multicultural Health Collaborative’s work on women’s health, including community engagement relating to cervical screening and women’s health information;  Consultations with multicultural women, including through Fairfield Women’s Health Service and community-led health education initiatives; 3  Insights from the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (ECCQ), informed by its previous consultation processes with multicultural communities on women’s health, health equity and access to services.  stakeholder insights from midwives and other maternal health professionals; and  relevant evidence and policy analysis developed through the National Women’s Alliances. A consistent message across these consultations is that multicultural women’s health inequities should not be understood as individual deficits or a lack of willingness to engage with healthcare. Rather, they frequently reflect structural barriers in how health systems are designed, communicated and delivered, compounding whatever condition-specific issue a woman is presenting with.

Submission to the Select Committee on Women’s Health