Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023. The Albanese Labor government is delivering on our election commitment to help close the gender pay gap at work. This bill will work to ensure that this occurs sooner rather than later. The bill will require the gender pay gaps of employers with 100 or more workers to be published, a key reform to drive transparency and action towards closing the gender pay gap. No longer can bosses around the country hide paying a man and a woman different wages or salaries. For too long women working full time have earnt, on average, 14.1 per cent less than men per week in their pay packet. What does that look like in dollar terms? The average weekly full-time earnings of a woman in Australia across all industries and occupations was lower than the equivalent for men by $263 per week. All Australians should be rightly shocked and outraged.

The gender pay gap is also holding our economy back, with $51.8 billion per year lost because of the lack of gender equality on pay. On current projections, it will take another 26 years to close the gender pay gap if no action is taken. Those opposite may want to continue on that path, but the women of Australia, every woman in every sector, deserves pay parity. Women have waited long enough for the pay gap to close. Let's not wait another second, hour, day, week, month or year—let alone another quarter of a century.

At its core, the bill makes employers more responsible with greater accountability towards gender equality in their workplaces and helps drive the actions required in the workplace to ensure pay parity. Advance Australia fair—they are the words that our country stands by. It is the way we live as people, and that needs to be applied to pay across the workforce, from the shopfloor to the boardroom, and even on the basketball court. Australian women and girls deserve fair and safe working conditions. They deserve equality of opportunity. They deserve equal remuneration. No more excuses—it's time.

We know that women have an average of 23.4 per cent less super when they come to retirement age than men. We know that the cohort of homeless women is growing. Ultimately, what has been happening and is still happening is wage theft, and women are the collateral damage during their working lives and at retirement age. I remember when I was working in the finance sector in Melbourne in the seventies. It seems such a long time ago. Women in that company were only invited to join the superannuation scheme after 10 years. If you were a young woman like me, and you were taking time out to have a family, you had no hope, no hope whatsoever, of being able to join that super fund. Even if you were invited, there was no guarantee. It is time to change that once and for all. We deserve pay parity, and with this bill the Labor government is working very hard to close that gap. Too many women in Australia can't afford to retire.

Women make up half of Australia's workforce. They represent less than a quarter of all chief executive officers. Of course, gender discrimination in the workplace just doesn't impact women. We understand that. In 2021, a review of the act made 10 recommendations that would help Australia accelerate progress towards workplace gender equality, as well as making reporting easier for employers. The review identified where further action was needed to strengthen the act. The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023, together with the remade instruments under the act, fulfils most of the recommendations of the review that require legislative amendment.

The current approach of publishing aggregate industry gender pay gaps is not creating the transparency, accountability and insights we need in order to close the gender pay gap fast enough. But, now, change is here under the Albanese Labor government. Research tells us the value of publishing employer gender pay gaps in encouraging employers to address adverse gender dynamics in the workplace, and in ensuring individuals—both employers and employees—move towards real-world action that will make a change in their workplaces.

The bill will align the act with Workplace Gender Equality (Matters in relation to Gender Equality Indicators) Instrument 2013 (No.1) by including sexual harassment and harassment on the grounds of sex or discrimination, as gender equality indicators in the act. This change recognises the importance of these core gender equality indicators and updates the act to bring it in line with its instrument and the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 as well as other recent legislative changes, including the Respect@Work reforms. The bill ultimately reflects the increased ambitions of all these measures to strengthen gender equality and improve outcomes for both women and men in the workplace by amending the act to rename current minimum standards as gender equality standards.

This bill is the first step. There is more we want to do and, until gender equality occurs in all facets, we are not there. We will not be advancing Australia fair. There are further reforms to come, and the Office for Women in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet will continue to work to identify the best pathways for good. Every measure in this bill has been designed in close consultation with stakeholders across Australia, including the business and not-for-profit sectors, employee organisations, higher education providers and the women's sector. The bill represents a critical piece of the government's ongoing commitment and action towards gender equality and empowering every woman and girl across Australia.

I have two daughters and four granddaughters. They deserve to have the same opportunities to succeed in life and be paid as much as their male counterparts. To show the gender balance: I have three grandsons as well. We want equality for both genders. With our gender equality legislation and new strategy to achieve gender equality, working in concert with Respect@Work to secure jobs, better pay, and improvement for fairness and families, the bill will help us to achieve our goal of being one of the best countries in the world for equality between women and men. We have already passed Paid Parental Leave, which gives access to both partners parenting a child. That is another reform. We took action immediately on coming to government.

Reporting will commence in 2024, drawing on data already provided by employers. Companies' gender pay gaps will be published on the Workplace Gender Equality Agency website. There will be nowhere to hide. Enough is enough where pay parity is concerned. This reform was recommended by the 2021 Review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, and I proudly stand on this side of the chamber because the Australian Labor Party and the Albanese government will always fight for fairness, fair pay for women and girls, and equality in the workplace. That will ensure that we have the best possible outcomes for all Australians.