Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Community Services, Minister for Indigenous Employment and Economic Development and Minister for the Status of Women. The social and community services pay equity legislation was passed by the House today. What does this mean for some of our lowest paid workers who have been waiting for fairness and justice in the workplace? Can the minister set out the facts about the impact of the government's pay equity reform on working people and the economy?

Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Community Services ) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for her question. Today's passing by the House of this legislation does ensure that the Australian government's $2.8 billion share of the equal pay increases awarded by Fair Work Australia to social and community services sector workers is able to be passed on to organisations that employ workers under the scope of this decision. The social and community services pay equity special account locks in the government's contribution to these pay rises over the eight years of this decision for directly funded programs and programs through Commonwealth-state agreements.

This government is and has always been committed to delivering 100 per cent of our share of these historic increases. The Commonwealth is seeking to work collaboratively with all jurisdictions and has requested feedback from every state and territory to determine the appropriate amount of Commonwealth funding. This is an open and transparent process that we are undertaking, and it was disappointing to see in news reports today that the Victorian government is claiming that they need more Commonwealth funding for its supplementation, especially since the Victorian government has not yet given us feedback on its costing assumptions on this negotiation.

Let us be clear: we are not going to pay Victoria's or any other state's share of this increase. We will fund our share 100 per cent, and we have said that. The Victorian state government made a promise before the last state election that they would pay their fair share. They committed $200 million over four years for this. They said that if it was any more than this they would fund it.

We want to work with every state and territory government in good faith for the benefit of the workers who are affected by this decision and, importantly, for the vulnerable people in our communities who rely on their services. We have undertaken a rigorous process to calculate our share of these increases and we have tested these calculations with a number of different processes with the sector. All of our commitment, the $2.8 billion, is fully funded and accounted for in the budget. These workers will benefit from pay rises from December this year of between 23 and 45 per cent in total.

Around 120,000 of these 150,000 workers are women in very challenging jobs, dealing with some of the most vulnerable in our community. We want to continue to work with the sector, and of course with the states and territories, to ensure the smooth implementation of this historic decision. The passing of this legislation by the House will assist the Commonwealth in making offers and payments to organisations so workers can have their payments by Christmas.