Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Minister for Finance and Women, Senator Gallagher. Today's release of employer-level gender pay gap data by the excellent WGEA is a move that the Greens have long called for, but the results are shocking. Employers should be embarrassed into fixing their gender pay gap, but there is a role for government here too. Many of the employers today reporting enormous gender pay gaps receive large government grants. For example, climate-wrecker Santos has a median gender pay gap of 24.7 per cent. In 2021, the government awarded Santos a $16½ million grant for its Moomba carbon capture and storage project. Minister, how many of the companies reporting a gender pay gap today receive government grants, and will the government stop subsidising discrimination by not giving grants to employers with gender pay gaps?

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

I thank Senator Waters for the question. I also acknowledge the work that she's done around gender equality, more broadly, and the advocacy that she has made for many years in this area. In terms of Senator Waters' questions, the focus of the release of this data today has not been to name and shame—to individually single out particular businesses. It's to shine a light.

Today's discussions—the coverage, interest and discussions—we've had today totally endorse the approach we've taken, which is that raising awareness will force the change to happen. Companies will be wanting to know why these gaps exist, what they can do about it and generating the change that needs to happen. That is why we've released these reports to link it to government grants. There are currently arrangements that exist through our procurement processes if companies don't engage with WGEA, to ensure that, over a certain limit, they don't have access to government work. The issue, more broadly, about procurement is something that is performing more generally to look at ways that we can support ethical procurement through our government processes. We are a big purchaser of supplies and services, and it's only right that we should be looking at all aspects of that to make sure that government is showing leadership in this area.

I would just say that the purpose of today, the work that Ms Wooldridge and her formidable team have done at WGEA, is not about naming and shaming. It's about driving change in a faster way than we've seen and encouraging businesses to understand what their current operations are and how to improve them.

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

Senator Waters, a first supplementary?

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government's procurement principles only require that companies report on their gender pay gap, not that they seek to close it. How many of the companies reporting a gender pay gap today receive government contracts, and will the government stop subsidising discrimination by not giving government contracts, as opposed to grants, to employers with gender pay gaps?

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

I welcome the fact that we're discussing this again. I think it's endorsing the approach that publishing this data is generating the conversations that will drive the change. We have not used the data from WGEA, nor were businesses who engaged with this willingly told that this data would then be used to stop something else. This is about reporting the current situation as it is and encouraging change. Part of those changes, which this parliament supported, was that reports need to be provided to the board, for example, so that the board is aware of what's happening in the business's operations. On the issue of procurement more generally, as I said in my first answer, I am working with finance on this issue, through the Buy Australian plan and other work that we're doing to make sure that government, as a purchaser, is leading the way in delivering good, strong social and ethical outcomes.

The:

Senator Waters, a second supplementary?

Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The big banks, who donated over $260,000 to Labor in the last financial year, all pay men significantly more than women. The Commonwealth Bank has the highest gender pay gap of the big four, at around 30 per cent. Will the government commit to stop accepting political donations from employers with large gender pay gaps?

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

The Clerk has advised me that that is not a relevant question for the minister, but obviously you're free to answer in whatever way you choose to, Minister.

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

Thank you. I was going to say that there isn't a subject or topic that the Greens can't somehow link to political donations in this country, despite not being able to provide any evidence at all, other than trying to besmirch political opponents. So, let's just see this for what it is. If I take the issue of financial services seriously, looking at gender pay gaps in financial services, there are some in financial services that have managed to have a neutral gender pay gap. There are others that have a large gender pay gap. The issue around this data is that by publishing it we've been able to identify that, and hopefully those companies where there are large gender pay gaps in favour of men will take the steps that they need to take to close that gender pay gap and to close it faster than has been occurring in previous years.