Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw the comments.

Yet women's average weekly ordinary earnings across all occupations are about $1,650. Men's average weekly ordinary earnings are about $1,900. That's about $250 less than men each week. The national pay gap on a base salary is about 13 per cent. It has been 54 years since the equal pay for equal work test case was lodged in the Conciliation and Arbitration commission. Selda Defano, a clerk with the Australian Meat Industry Employees Union, chained herself to the front doors of the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission with a sign saying 'No more male and female rates One rate only'. We only have one rate today, but the pay gap still persists. This struggle has taken too long, and each year we only see incremental changes. Our struggle only succeeds when we bring daylight to these issues. I will read a text message from a constituent of mine: 'On a project I spent a long time being paid less and doing more work than someone else on the team. We were supposed to be with the same title but there was the difference between our professional backgrounds. They were a tradesperson and I was a professional engineer, so I felt I should be paid as much as that man or, if not, more.'

You find this stuff out by accident and you are not even supposed to talk about it openly. In one of my previous workplaces, two of my colleagues started dating and, in time, my female colleague discovered the pay gap compared to her partner's. Once she did, she negotiated a pay rise. Finally, I remember a conversation with another engineer at a famous bar in Western Australia called the Belgian Beer Cafe. This male and female engineer had met at university and decided to have kids. They talked about who would stay at home and do the parental duties. The decision was that the bloke earned more so, therefore, she would become the stay-at-home parent, which she did for at least 14 years. If there was no pay gap, I wonder what the decision would have been?

There is research on how women and men approach selection criteria when they apply for jobs. If men don't meet all the selection criteria, there is a tendency for them to go, 'Whatever, I will go for it. I will be able to, you know, bluff my way through this.' Women, if they don't meet the selection criteria, are less likely to apply for the job and so don't necessarily get those opportunities to increase their salaries. Again, historical research on gender and negotiation skills has also shown that women are less comfortable asking for a pay rise. However, more recent research indicates that when women are asking for more pay, they are not receiving what they are asking for.

The gender pay gap is about 19 per cent where there is an individually negotiated agreement compared to 13 per cent for those on awards and collective agreements. Pay transparency brings disparity to light and has been recommended by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency for quite some time. But that transparency shouldn't have to come through co-workers dating. When people see numbers, they can identify the problem and put measures in to overcome the disparity in negotiated pay.

Women and men often find themselves in different types of work, and the nature of that work can often be very different, including the pay. Women make up 96 per cent of hours worked by child carers. About 87 per cent of hours worked by registered nurses are female. Again, women make up about 80 per cent of primary school teachers. The pay is not reflective of the essential nature of this work. Early childhood educators often have degrees but sometimes they leave and can make six-figure salaries driving trucks in mines. I have to say, the work that early childhood educators do is essential and I could not do this work in this place if it wasn't for the pattern of the carers who look after my children.

I agree with the comments from the minister for industrial relations. As a government, we have a commitment to get wages moving again, particularly in low-paid, female-dominated sectors, like early childhood education. I was proud to have supported the secure jobs, better pay bill last year, and we have gender equity included as an objective of the Fair Work Act because it should not be a case of either/or. Pink collar workers deserve rates that are reflective of the work they do and that are more in line with the rates of with blue-collar workers, such as truck drivers, plumbers, carpenters and bricklayers because both are equally as important to our society.

We also see pay gaps in leadership positions. In the ASX 200 there are only 14 female CEOs. Male CEOs earn almost $1 million more than female CEOs. Of the top 10 highest paid CEOs in Australia, only one is a woman, and she's at Macquarie Group. Across the country, the highest paid men are earning at least $162,000 more than the highest paid women, though it is worth noting that these workers are receiving wage increases nine times those of ordinary workers and they're earning 132 times more than the average Australian worker.

Women in all industries across all classes are earning less than their male colleagues. When we shine a light on these issues, we know that it spurs organisations to act on the pay disparity and it empowers women to negotiate for better pay. In reflecting on this bill, I also thought about my friend who worked for a resources company. She wanted to have the confidence that her pay was comparable to that of her male colleagues. She said to the HR person: 'How do I know that I'm getting paid a fair salary?' The response was: 'Just trust us.' What this bill does is compel organisations to report data on pay based on gender. This bill creates a mechanism that shines a light on these issues, because we can't just rely upon trust; we need to fix the system. This bill also introduces new provisions requiring the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to publish gender pay gap information of employers with more than 100 people.

If you don't measure it, you can't manage it. The Labor Party fundamentally understands this. Labor introduced quotas. The Labor Party brought targets into our rules in the 1990s. At that time, women represented 14 per cent of the federal Labor caucus. The first target set was 35 per cent, and then it was raised to 40 per cent in the early 2000s. Since the 2015 national conference, it has been lifted to 45 per cent. In 2025 it will be 50 per cent. But today 50 per cent of my colleagues are females. We did that because we put targets in place.

This bill will also require relevant employers to circulate reports on their gender equality performance to their governing bodies. We can't bridge the divide on our own. We need organisations to be aware of the task ahead and to discuss it. This bill gives effect to the 2022 election commitment to closing the gender pay gap at work and to deliver pay equity. Also, by boosting transparency and encouraging action to close pay gaps, each iteration of the election commitments indicates that the reform will apply to employers of 250 people more and be phased in. Our policy involved a response to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency review and the commitment to bring in gender pay gap reporting for businesses of 100 people, and it was included as an outcome of the Jobs and Skills Summit. This will draw attention to the shortcomings of specific workplaces. This bill reports gender pay gaps at the employer level, not just the industry level. International experience shows that if we bring attention to these issues we will get wages moving.

I'll also point out that this bill is part of a suite of policies. I know that some organisations want to continue to improve gender equality. At the beginning of this speech I explained how the coalition had a lack of understanding of all the issues facing women. Employers are thinking about how to have more inclusive workplaces. It's very competitive to get a graduate position as an engineer. I remember one of my a former bosses, John Ganser. He talked about this group exercise. He had this brilliant engineer, but when my boss saw the way in which he interacted with women in that team, he realised that that person was a misogynist and that he would not be appropriate for the workplace. He did not get the job, despite being academically brilliant. Behaviours are really important. One of the things I also note is we now have a positive requirement for workplaces to make sure workplaces are free from sexual harassment.

I'd like the women of Australia to know that the Albanese Labor government wants women to achieve their full potential, and that includes their full earning potential. As my constituent told me, the cumulative effect of a lifetime of less pay is huge for women. Less savings and less compounding power magnifies the gap. For the maths lesson in the room, this is referring to compound interest. Compound interest has this wonderful effect of having an exponential increase, but what happens when you don't have the same income? The gap increases exponentially.

I commend this bill to the House, and I am proud to be part of a government that is getting on with the job and bridging the gender pay gap.

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