Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

The women of Australia have spoken. Thousands of Australian women contributed to the development of the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce report, and what they want is secure work and respect. At the UN Women breakfast in parliament last week, chair Georgina Williams said that, when women are empowered to have their own voice, agency and meaningful participation in economic decision-making at all levels of society, everyone benefits. Despite some progress in recent years, Australian women don't have economic equality. Australia ranks equal first for women's education but 43rd for women's economic opportunity. Australian women are much less likely to work full time than women in many other OECD countries. Gender segregation persists across the economy. As an example, 76 per cent of employees in the healthcare sector are female, and 86 per cent in the construction industry are male. Most casual workers are women, and some of the most highly feminised sectors are the most casualised. Women do most of the care work, which is generally low paying. In the early childhood education and care sector, 92 per cent of workers are women. Women continue to shoulder a disproportionate burden of unpaid labour, and there's a stubborn gender pay gap of 13.3 per cent.

Goldstein includes an increasing number of lower and middle-income workers—many of them women, more than 25,000 of whom work in feminised industries—and almost 9,000 of those women who work in the care sector. These are among the millions of women I've been talking about repeatedly since I was elected and, indeed, before then. At the Jobs and Skills Summit and in conversations with ministers, I've strived to convince them of the need to place a gender lens over all legislation. The Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work found that on average an Australian woman earns $1 million less than an Australian man across her career and $136,000 less in super over her working life.

There are attitudinal barriers that keep the inequality ticking along too. According to the WEET report, 30 per cent of Australian men don't think gender inequality exists. I'll just pause so you can digest that, ladies. Gender inequality is real, and it's a moral issue as well as an economic one. Currently Australia is underutilising 50 per cent of its economic potential. According to Deloitte Access Economics, the Australian economy would be boosted by $128 billion if the persistent barriers to women's full and equal participation were removed. That equates to $12,000 extra a year per household.

As I've said before in this place and elsewhere, we need to turbocharge our efforts. At the Jobs and Skills Summit in 2022, I called for gender impact statements on all new legislation and the mandating of gender pay gap reporting—two simple measures to create fairness and accountability. The member for Tangney is right when he says that the government is taking steps to improve conditions. Expanding paid parental leave to 26 weeks by 2026 is evidence of that. But, as the WEET report outlines, 52 weeks of paid parental leave is where we need to be, and this should be phased in and achieved by 2030. We need to legislate the payment of superannuation on all forms of paid parental leave. We also need to legislate to establish and invest in universal, high-quality and affordable early childhood education and care and abolish the childcare subsidy activity test. More broadly, we need to elevate the status of care work and attract a diverse and skilled workforce by valuing and adequately compensating care workers.

We must generate policies to get more women into male-dominated industries. Let us not let women miss yet another revolution, the renewables revolution, by leaving it to hi-vis male trades. Australia has one of the most highly gender-segregated workforces among OECD countries, with women making up only three per cent of the trade workforce. Only when we have all these reforms will we unleash the full capacity and contribution of women to the Australian economy.

The final point I'll make is that we can't ignore the link between women's economic insecurity and violence. Recent data from the ABS exposes a staggering reality: 2.7 million women have experienced partner violence or abuse in Australia. When women have financial independence, they have the power to make their own decisions and they don't have to make the hideous choice between poverty and violence. Women's economic security can be a life-and-death conversation which deserves the full attention of the whole parliament. Australia's competitive advantage, economic growth and future prosperity depend on it.

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