Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

It's wrong in any workplace. I've heard people sworn at in this place too. I've heard people behave badly in this workplace too. And it shouldn't happen. People should behave well in every workplace. But I'm asked about the issue of women in workplaces, and I'll tell you what the government is doing. We're adopting all 55 recommendations of the Jenkins Report—all 55, including the obligation on employers, including those in the construction industry, to provide safe workplaces for women. That is what we are doing, and by providing those provisions that we will put into law, employers will have an obligation to provide safe workplaces for women, and that will affect the behaviour of everyone in those workplaces. That is what we are doing.

The other thing we are doing is making gender pay equity an objective of the Fair Work Act. That is something that those opposite would never have done, and we'll wait to see whether they support it or not. Today, of all days, I would have thought that if you were going to ask a question about domestic violence—which is what the first question today was about—or about the position of women in workplaces, you might have asked a question about, or indeed endorsed, the legislation that was introduced just this morning for 10 days of paid domestic and family violence leave. It took the election of a Labor government to do that.

We think that all workplaces should be safe workplaces. We're legislating to do just that, and the approach of those opposite says more about them than anything else.

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