Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm proud to rise in this chamber to speak on another signature Albanese Labor government election promise that this bill delivers. The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 will implement the vast majority of the recommendations that stemmed from the 2021 review of the act. The bill will empower the Workplace Gender Equality Agency—the WGEA—with the ability to publish gender pay gaps of the relevant employers at each reporting period. This alone is a significant change, as it means that instead of data being published on the gender pay gap by industry it will now be specific pay gaps published per company. This change not only is necessary to fulfil our election promise to the Australian people but also critically serves to promote accountability in companies and encourage their speedy efforts to address any pay gap they may have.

The first time we will see this new gender pay gap data will be in early 2024, based on the current reporting period of 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. On top of providing this data per employer, companies will have the option of providing a statement to give further context as to why they have a gender pay gap and what actions they are taking to rectify this. This statement would also be public and published in an easy-to-find format alongside their gender pay gap data on WGEA's website. This change also benefits employees. They will now be empowered with the ability to search their company's gender pay gap at any time and see what the company is doing about it. If you're a prospective employee at a company, you can do some additional research before choosing to work for them or not.

We know this change is an important step in tackling Australia's gender pay gap. As of 2022, this gap stood at a shocking 14.1 per cent. Practically speaking, this means that, as of May 2022, the average weekly full-time earnings of a woman in this country, taking into account all industries and occupations, was lower than the male equivalent by as much as $263.90 per week. We also know that women, on average, have 23.4 per cent less superannuation when they reach retirement age compared to men. Women are generally overrepresented in industries with lower wages and underrepresented in leadership positions. Women hold just 18 per cent of chair positions and 34 per cent of board member positions. Whilst gender discrimination, of course, does not just affect women, these statistics are quite stark.

This gender pay gap alone costs the Australian economy $51.8 billion a year. This pay gap helps no-one, and it is in all our interests, workers and businesses alike, to fix it. Will this bill fix all of that overnight? Of course not. However, it is a very significant step in shining a light on the gender pay gap that may exist from company to company, and this information being public will have positive flow-on effects to address it. No employer wants to be at the bottom of this soon-to-be public ladder. We know this because similar reforms were initiated in the United Kingdom back in 2017. Since then, there has been a marked improvement across the board in the gender pay gap, particularly in companies towards the end of the spectrum.

Further accountability and transparency changes in this bill include the WGEA requiring employers to provide their executive summary report and industry benchmark report to all members of their governing body. This ensures that, after receiving the report from the WGEA, everyone with a leadership role in a company is informed on progress they are making in addressing the gender pay gap or in starting that progress if it isn't already happening.

Importantly, the bill also amends the act to rename the existing 'minimum standards' wording to 'gender equality standards', which reflects this bill's ambitious goal to drastically improve gender equality and economic outcomes for both men and women in the workplace. Other administrative changes include renaming the WGEA chair's role from 'director' to 'chief executive officer'. This implements recommendation 9.2 of the review, aligns the language of the act with the WGEA and avoids confusion with the company director's role. Further amendments to the act include adding 'sexual harassment', 'harassment on the ground of sex' and 'discrimination' as gender equality indicators in the act. These amendments address recommendation 5.1 of the review and support the implementation of the Respect@Work report.

One of the best things about this bill is that it will not result in increased paperwork or red tape for businesses. We are simply drawing on the data that has already been provided and making it more accessible and transparent for all. In fact, the remade instruments that will action many of these changes make it easier for employers to report on their data. This will be actioned through research and consultation on the collection of additional diversity data about those with cultural and linguistic diversity, our First Nations Australians and those with a disability.

The development of these gender equality targets requires close consultation with businesses and other important stakeholders. I know that the Minister for Women, Senator Katy Gallagher, is working very hard to develop a further legislative package that will include measures to give effect to outstanding legislative recommendations, such as requiring employers to achieve specific gender equality targets. This will be introduced at a later date.

I am also pleased to see this bill before us. I know its implementation will do wonders to not only help businesses address their gender pay gaps and learn from each other but also help employees and prospective employees know what the current gender pay gap might be. I've always believed that shining a light on an issue always has positive effects. While this bill in itself does not solve the entire gender pay gap issue, it will go a long way in helping address it. I am proud of yet another Labor bill that honours an election commitment we made to the Australian people in last year's election. This shows yet again that Labor are getting things done, and we are not wasting a moment in seeking to improve the conditions of all Australians.

I worked as a union organiser for many, many years, and I represented people who worked in retail, fast food and warehousing. I am so proud that the Albanese Labor government is standing up for all the women across this country. I strongly commend this bill to the House, and I hope to see everyone in this place voting in favour of such commonsense reforms. I thank the House.

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