Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Women, Senator Gallagher. Today the Albanese government delivered on an election promise and published the individual gender pay gaps of Australia's largest employers. This step builds on the government's commitment to close the gender pay gap and to lift women's economic equality.

Could the minister outline the findings of today's landmark data release and how shining a light helps to shift the dial when it comes to closing the gender pay gap?

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

I thank Senator Marielle Smith for her question and for the incredible job she does on behalf of the people of South Australia and when it comes to gender equality and advocating for policies that support gender equality. I would also like to acknowledge Ms Mary Wooldridge in the chamber today and her team from WGEA for the hard work that they've done to get us to this point today. I would like to acknowledge the effort that has gone into raising awareness and publicity of this important release today.

WGEA first published national gender pay gap data in 2014, and it is fitting that, 10 years later, we've reached the point of publishing employer-level data. Publishing the gender pay gaps of big employers was a commitment we took to the last election, as Senator Smith outlined. We brought that reform to the parliament a year ago, and now today we're taking the crucial step towards fairness in Australian workplaces. This is an Australian first, and there are a lot of takeaways from the data released today. We can see a median gender pay gap of 19 per cent when it comes to total remuneration, and that's equivalent to over $18,000 per year. Thirty per cent of Australian employers have a gender pay gap of within five per cent of zero, which is very promising, but around two-thirds of employers, just over 60 per cent, have a gender pay gap above that, which means the majority of Australian workplaces have work to do to close their gender pay gap.

In every industry in Australia, the median of what a woman is paid is less than the median of what a man is paid. By exposing these pay gaps, sharing this data and shining some light on it, we're giving power to both employees and employers to drive real change.

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

Senator Marielle Smith, first supplementary?

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, this is the first time that this data has been released publicly in a way that measures the individual businesses' gender pay gaps. How will this reform help to close the gender pay gap faster, and how will closing the gender pay gap deliver better outcomes for women?

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

I thank Senator Smith for the supplementary question. The data today shows that the median gender pay gap is equivalent to just over $18,000 a year. If you're a woman working in a male dominated industry, the median pay gap is over $27,000, and if you work in construction the median gap is over $38,000. With this data, businesses and workers are armed with powerful information about where employers need to focus their efforts. They may focus on recruitment and promotion or addressing industry and occupation gender segregation, which is a big problem in this country. They may also look at workplace flexibility and the structure of bonuses. The government looks forward to continuing to work with businesses and WGEA to make sure we are closing the gender pay gap. At the pace we're going now, it'll take another quarter of a century to close that gap, and we think that is too long.

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

Senator Smith, second supplementary?

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government's reform that led to the release of this landmark data is already sparking a national conversation and building on a strong agenda for women. Can the minister outline what the government is doing to support gender equality, at work and beyond, to achieve better outcomes for women across Australia?

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

I thank Senator Smith for the question. We've made it clear that addressing gender equality and driving greater economic independence and economic equality for women are key priorities for this government, and we have a national strategy on gender equality on the eve of International Women's Day next week, but the conversation that the WGEA report has started is welcome. There has been a lot of engagement on this today. We think it is a positive story, not a negative one. It's a shame Senator Canavan isn't here, because I noticed he said it was the worst collection of data that any government could ever do—

and I don't think Senator Hughes is a fan either, but this is important data that'll help drive change across the economy, and it'll make sure that women get a better deal when it comes to workplace equality.