Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Water) Share this | Hansard source

We know that women continue to earn less than men in our society. For example, starting salaries for graduates show that female graduates still start work on about $3,000 less than men. I am sure senators will remember that, when we debated Work Choices in this place, Labor senators—and I also acknowledge the contribution of the crossbenchers on this—said that women, in particular, would be impacted by these changes. We know that many Australian women, courtesy of the Howard government’s extreme laws, had basic employment conditions stripped away without compensation under Australian workplace agreements. We know that women on Australian workplace agreements have lower earnings when compared with the earnings of men. In fact, women on AWAs earn nearly 20 per cent less than men on AWAs.

Those on the other side should hang their heads in shame for imposing on already low-paid workers in this country a regime which stripped away wages and conditions, a regime which ensured too many women were on AWAs and earning less than they ought. Those opposite should hang their heads in shame. I am pleased to say that soon they will have the opportunity to remedy this mistake. They will soon have the opportunity to vote with the government to remove their extreme Work Choices legislation. (Time expired)