Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Women, Senator Gallagher. As we know, gender inequality remains a significant issue for women in Australia, with women still on average being paid less, retiring with less and more likely to experience domestic, family and sexual violence as well as harassment and sexual violence in our workplaces. The Albanese government is committed, as we know, to ensuring gender equality and making life better for women in Australia. We have seen it be a priority across everything this government has done from the beginning of its term after a decade in which Australia went backwards on gender equality. So, after a year of genuinely listening to women and taking real action, can the Minister for Women update the Senate on how the Albanese government is improving the lives of women?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Pratt for the question and congratulate her on her marriage last weekend. It's good of you to be back here and not on a honeymoon! Since day one when we came to government as Australia's first majority-female federal government, we have taken action to improve women's lives. After a decade of falling behind, we recognised the need for immediate action and investment and we haven't wasted a day. In our first year we have made historic investments in women and women's equality. We have supported women's economic equality through our investments in cheaper child care, to give families more choice over childcare arrangements and support women's workforce participation. Families will benefit from this reform from 1 July. We are modernising and expanding paid parental leave, with the changes to simplify the scheme and making it more flexible and easy to access starting from 1 July. We have supported pay increases in industries overwhelmingly dominated by women, including in aged care, with this pay rise also coming into effect from 1 July. We've supported single parents with $1.9 billion to increase the eligibility for parenting payment single, the majority of whom are women, until their youngest dependent child turns 14. We took action to end the punitive ParentsNext program and are developing a better way to support vulnerable parents. We've made record investments in women's safety, with women accessing 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave. We have invested $2.3 billion in funding for women safety across our two budgets in preventing violence against women and children. We're implementing all recommendations of the Respect@Work report, including by legislating a positive duty, and we have worked across this parliament to implement the recommendations of the Set the standard report to make this place a safer place for women in the future.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Pratt, first supplementary?

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is clear the Albanese government has not wasted a day. Indeed, the job figures released yesterday reveal that 465,000 new jobs were created in the first 12 months of the Albanese government, the most created under a new Australian government on record. Can the Minister for Women update the Senate on how the Albanese government is increasing women's workforce participation?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

(—) (): Yesterday's employment data demonstrates that a deliberate focus on barriers to workforce participation does make a difference. More women than ever are now in full-time work. Women's workforce participation is at a record high of 62.7 per cent. Women got two-thirds of all the full-time jobs created in the past 12 months, and almost 233,000 women have entered the workforce since last May. We have also seen the gender pay gap drop to the lowest on record at 13.3 per cent. These outcomes are promising and demonstrate that when you take women's economic security seriously you will see the results. That's what we have done. From coming to government, through our Jobs and Skills Summit, we have recognised that gender equality is a core economic imperative, and we have continued this focus in all the work we have done, including improved transparency in gender pay gap reporting, putting gender equality at the heart of our workplace relations system, and investments in fee-free TAFE. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Pratt, a second supplementary?

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister. That's a great start. As we know, there is still a great deal of work to do to protect the gains that are being made and to make further progress towards gender equality in Australia. Therefore, I ask: can the minister update the Senate on what is on the government's agenda going forward to make life better for women in our nation?

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

While we have made these historic investments, it is a start; we know that there is more to do, and we need to protect the gains that we have made and we will not be deterred from this. One of the ways we are doing this is through the development of a national strategy to achieve gender equality, which we expect to release later this year. Earlier this year, we held a public consultation process seeking the views of the whole community on gender equality and how we can support women across the country. We have heard from over 3,000 individuals and organisations throughout our consultation process, and I would like to thank women around the country for their contributions so far. Through the Jobs and Skills Summit, through the consultations across key government processes on the national strategy, through their conversations and round tables with me, women are sharing their experiences and their expertise and it has been an honour to listen to so many of them share their reflections with me and share their time. We will continue to listen, invest and make changes that improve their lives.