Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Greens believe in equality.

And we are committed to doing whatever we can to achieve equality.

Equality in our community.

Equality in our society.

Equality in our economy, and our workplaces.

The gains we have already made in achieving equality have come from a long, hard struggle; taking many twists and turns.

It has required conflict and compassion, education and legislation, courage and conviction.

The Greens are committed to continuing our walk on the long road to equality.

That is why today I am introducing the Greens bill to boost women's super. The Sex Discrimination Amendment (Boosting Superannuation for Women) Bill 2014 will be another modest but important step on the road to equality.

Equality for women is still a long way off particularly when it comes to pay equity.

Despite the many steps forward women often still do not get equal pay for equal work, women on average still earn less than men and do not have the same opportunities as men to progress their careers.

One of the areas where workplace inequality and pay inequity hits hard on women is in retirement.

This bill is one step in addressing the significant financial inequality women face in retirement.

In 1984 the Sex Discrimination Act came into force, highlighting the need for anti-discriminatory legislation to protect women's rights and enhance gender equality. Section 14 of the Act prohibits 'discrimination against women in employment or in superannuation.' It is a sad fact that 30 years later there still remains a significant financial imbalance between men and women. The gender pay gap has hovered between 15 per cent and 18 per cent for the past two decades and is currently 17 per cent. The Global Gender Gap Report 2014 ranks Australia as only 24th of 142 countries for women's equality. It seems we have made little progress in addressing gender inequality. It is not happening fast enough, and it is an issue that this government is making worse.

The gender pay gap persists after women stop working. It is evident further in retirement. When you look at the Australian Bureau of Statistics figures on average superannuation account balances. They show that in 2011-12 the average superannuation account balances were $82,615 for men and just $44,866 for women. There is a number of reasons for this. Women have average lower incomes and there is a lack of women attaining senior positions at work. Women take more time out of paid work to undertake unpaid caring work, such as raising children or caring for other family members. Women are more likely to work in part-time or casual roles, and in such circumstances will inevitably receive lower incomes.

We need laws that reflect the reality of women's working lives. We need to encourage employers to take steps to enable women to continue to participate in the workforce in addition to the other responsibilities they may have. If we do not, we will see an increased number of women in poverty in their old age.

This bill seeks to take a step towards addressing this imbalance in retirement, by ensuring employers are able to contribute more super for women employees than men employees without being considered to have breached anti-discrimination legislation. Progressive and far-sighted employers who recognise the need for women to receive higher superannuation contributions, currently have to apply for an exemption from the anti-discrimination legislation. There are employers already doing this. Financial advisors Rice Warner, for example, contribute an additional two per cent in super contributions for their women employees, having gained such an exemption. This bill will remove the barrier of employers having to apply for an exemption; a barrier that takes time and money for those progressive employers who want to take steps to rebalance financial gender equality.

I will briefly outline the details of the bill. Schedule 1 of the bill sets out the relevant amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984. Items 1 and 2 will be additions to section 14 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and provide for the application of the proposed new section 41C. The proposed new section 41C confirms that discrimination by an employer against a female employee is not unlawful if the discrimination is on the grounds of the employee's sex and involves the employer making an employer superannuation contribution that is more than otherwise required by law.

These simple but effective changes will make a significant difference to an employer's willingness to contribute more to women employees' superannuation. The bill will not create any financial burden on the budget or cost to government, but it will give effect to important human rights obligations of our country, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Article 11(d) of the convention states the right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in the evaluation of the quality of work.

The Greens believe there will be widespread support amongst business and the community for these changes. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, AFSA, the peak industry body for the superannuation sector, recently released a report entitled The future of Australia's super: a new framework for a better system, which outlines a number of recommendations. This bill will implement one of those recommendations: that employers should be able to contribute more to super for women without being considered to have breached anti-discrimination legislation.

Addressing the gender imbalance in superannuation funds is particularly important given the difference in life expectancy between men and women. On average, women live three to four years longer than men yet have considerably less superannuation to live on in their retirement. Women are retiring without enough money and the gender inequality of both pay and superannuation are compounding to leave many women disproportionately impoverished in their retirement. It is unacceptable in the 21st century that women are reaching the end of their working lives without enough money to live on. It is something this parliament can do something about, and it is something this parliament should do something about.

Instead of taking steps towards addressing this inequality, unfortunately, the current government continues to move backwards on financial gender equality, abolishing the low-income superannuation contribution, from July 2017, which will impact one in every two working women. And, of course, the planned university fee interest hikes will disproportionately affect women who take time out of the workplace for caring responsibilities or who undertake part time work, during which time the interest on their student debt will continue to pile up. And the government has delayed the increase in the superannuation guarantee charge to 12 per cent until 2025.

This bill, without imposing any obligation on government, will allow far-sighted employers to help redress some of these inequalities. What is worth underscoring is that any action by employers remains voluntary. The bill will not force employers to contribute more superannuation to women employees than men, but will remove the costs in both time and money of having to apply to the Human Rights Commissioner for exemption from anti-discrimination laws.

The Greens hope that it will encourage more employers to recognise the need for women to have more super contributions given the significant financial imbalance they face in retirement. This bill gives employers an opportunity to act to fix the systemic inequality that women continue to face without placing an additional obligation on them to do so. In fact, from the government's point of view, this removes an element of the so-called red tape that the government so often claims is restraining business. I note with interest that in all of the bills that have been brought before this parliament to reduce so-called red tape not one of them has contained a positive measure such as this that would have the impact of reducing inequality. This is one that we hope the government can get behind.

For that reason, the Greens will not be seeking to push this bill to a vote immediately. We hope that this is a bill that can pass this parliament with everyone's support. As I have said, from the government's perspective, it imposes no additional obligation on employers and, in fact, removes the requirement for them to apply for an exemption. From the opposition's perspective, given their commitment to superannuation and to closing pay gaps, it is a measure that they support as well.

We are keen to allow members to examine and consider the implications of this bill because we believe every member of parliament should be able to it. We intend to move for an inquiry into the bill to enable this and other barriers to retirement equality for women to be addressed. Gender inequality in the workforce is a continuing problem and no more so than when it comes to women's retirement. The Greens are committed to solving this problem. This bill is not the complete solution, but is an important step towards righting the gender imbalance. I commend the bill to the House.

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