Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the motion before the chamber on Equal Pay Day. According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Australian women to have to work 50 days into the new financial year for to earn the same on average as Australian men did last year. This statistic shows that, while women have made considerable ground, there is a way to go. For the past 50 days, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency campaign themed It Doesn't Add Up has motivated Australians to understand that pivotal difference between equal pay and the gender pay gap, and supported employers to build their capacity to take actions to reduce the gap in their workplace. This is a good thing.

The coalition has always been and remains committed to supporting women's participation in the workforce and it rose to record highs under the previous government. Supporting women's economic security is absolutely essential to raising the status of women in Australia and to giving women the choice to make decisions in their own best interests. Stronger women's economic security provides benefits not just for the individuals involved but also their families, businesses and of course the broader economy. Supporting women's labour force participation, particularly in entrepreneurship, skills and leadership, is profoundly important, and women's economic security will only really be found, not just when equal pay is realised but, more importantly, when there is equal homeownership and better retirement outcomes for women as well.

In the last government, in the last two women's budget statements, more than $5.5 billion was dedicated to raising the economic security and, indeed, the safety of Australia's women. There was an additional extension to paid parental leave from 18 to 20 weeks. There were increased childcare subsidies, particularly for those families with two or more children in child care at the same time, because we know that is the tipping point where women make decisions about not returning to the workforce and, rather, stay at home because the cost of child care becomes overwhelming.

But more importantly, I think, is to focus on something that is not picked up in this notice of motion. Indeed, it doesn't really seem to feature in this government's thinking when they put together their women's policies—that is, one in three owners of small businesses in Australia now are women.

In fact, between 2006 and 2021, the number of female small-business owners increased by 24 per cent. Despite this incredible growth, there are still barriers to women led small businesses and particularly to things like access to finance. But studies in Australia suggest that boosting the number of female business owners to that equal of men could add somewhere in the vicinity of $70 billion to $135 billion to Australia's economy. That's something that we should be celebrating. That's something that we should be harnessing.

That's why we pursued things like the Female Founders Initiative, which encouraged women-owned and -led startups; the Entrepreneur's Program to take those startups to the next level, specifically for women; and the Career Revive program that encouraged dozens of regional businesses to take on women that were returning to work after a career break. There was about $60 million for additional places in girls academies for Indigenous students, supporting girls to help them attain year 12—such an important part of closing the gap. There was also support for women in male dominated trades and support for 230 women to pursue higher level STEM qualifications.

But I think one of the crowning achievements of the previous government was reaching gender parity on government board appointments. That was a commitment that the coalition made back in 2016, and it was achieved in 2020: 50 per cent of all government board appointments now go to women. For me personally, abolishing the $450 threshold for superannuation payments was one of my proudest achievements in this place. That made sure that around 300,000 low-paid women finally received, for the first time since superannuation was introduced by the Keating government, the superannuation that they deserved.

The best indicator of economic security in retirement is owning a home. That should be a focus of this government, and that's why, in the coalition's last budget-in-reply statement, we extended the homeownership program that would allow people to access their superannuation to buy their first home to women finding themselves single for the first time late— (Time expired)