Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased today to join the member for Lalor, the member for Macquarie and others on this side of the House who are raising the critical issues facing women, in particular young women who are growing up in this nation today. Lisa Wilkinson has got the issue of the gender pay gap on the front page of the newspapers, and I'm so excited for that. She's raised an issue that is very relevant to her at the top of the labour market. But we know, when we look at the statistics, that this is an issue that affects women who are at all stages and all levels of their careers. We live in a country today that thinks of itself as being very equal. But, when we look at the numbers, what we see is something quite different—that is that there is a full 16 per cent difference in the average pay of men and women in this country. That averages out to about a $13,000-a-year difference.

This is a very significant issue facing the country. We heard from a government body earlier this year, in a parliamentary committee, about the belief that this gender pay gap may close in about 50 years. There are girls sitting up here in the public gallery today, and I want them to know that Labor takes this issue incredibly seriously. We were very pleased to have our Labor leader talking on this issue yesterday. We have heard a deafening silence from those on the other side of the House today on this important issue, and I have to say that they have got some gender issues to address in their party room: 20 per cent of their members of parliament are women. It's not good enough—and that's another problem we need to address.

See this speech in context