Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is Australia's Equal Pay Day. It takes 50 extra working days for Australian women to earn the same, on average, as men. The recent ABS data shows the gender pay gap is 11.5 per cent. It's a notable decline from the 14.1 per cent pay gap we inherited from those opposite, but much more needs to be done.

We know that feminised industries are historically underpaid. That's why we backed record increases to the minimum wage. We backed and funded a 23 per cent pay rise for aged-care workers. We made it easier for workers in low-paid, feminised industries to bargain for pay rises. We set up a new expert panel at the Fair Work Commission on the pay equity in the care and community sectors. We banned pay secrecy clauses. We introduced a right to request flexible work. We prohibited sexual harassment in the Fair Work Act. We made gender pay equity and equality an object of the Fair Work Act. Would you believe it: the Liberals and Nationals posed or voted against every single one of those measures. If you look at their voting record, you wonder if Mr Dutton has a weird and outdated view about the role of women in the workforce.

On this side of the chamber, Labor will always stand by all workers.

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

Thank you, Senator Sheldon. The time for two-minute statements has expired. We'll move to question time.