ACT Minister for Women Yvette Berry backs calls for national women's summit

Ms Berry has also issued a warning to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, saying state and territory ministers will hold him accountable to his promise to address the challenges facing Australian women.

"Women's voices across the country have been very loud and very clear that they have much higher expectations than they ever have had," Ms Berry, the ACT's Minister for Women, said.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will use this week's national cabinet meeting to push the case for a special summit to address the "ongoing economic and social inequality facing Australian women".

Federal Women's Safety Minister Anne Ruston on Wednesday confirmed a national summit to address violence against women would be held in late July.

But Ms Palaszczuk wants a separate meeting to examine broader issues, such as the gender pay and superannuation gap, affordable childcare and the disproportionate economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on women.

Asked if he she supported Ms Palaszczuk's proposal, Ms Berry said: "Absolutely".

She said the renewed national conversation about the treatment of women sparked by the Brittany Higgins allegations, coupled with the upheaval of the pandemic and the recent progress made in areas such as female sport, meant now was the right time.

"I understand the cynicism from people around this just being another talk-fest and there will be no achievement," she said.

"This is the wave that we need to catch, and we just cannot let it go by.

"When I went to that March 4 Justice rally [outside Parliament House], Yes, sure everyone was angry and frustrated but I really got a feeling of hope that this was the moment that real change was going to happen."

The Canberra Times spoke with Ms Berry after she and other state and territory ministers met with Senator Ruston and federal Minister for Women Marise Payne on Wednesday afternoon.

Ahead of the meeting, women's safety groups had called for the federal government to extend the $150 million provided during the pandemic.

Ms Berry said the ACT had been handed a $3 million share of the national funding, all of which had been allocated to programs.

She backed calls for funding to be extended, saying demand was still rising.

The ministers' meeting on Wednesday came a day after the first gathering of the Morrison government's new women's taskforce, which is co-chaired by Mr Morrison and Senator Payne.

Ms Berry said it was hard not to view the taskforce and creation of new women's portfolios "with a fair bit of cynicism".

"It is going to be up to all of us across the country, state and territory governments and first ministers, to hold him to account," she said.

"I have confidence that women and others will hold him and the federal government to do that [higher standard], to make sure that this promise to listen to women and to hear their voices is actually a promise that is kept."

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