Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) the gender pay gap still sits at an unacceptable 14.1 per cent;

(b) men earn an extra $263.90 per week more than women;

(c) the gender pay gap has only narrowed by 5.1 per cent since 1983; and

(d) work in female-dominated industries is disproportionately undervalued because of discriminatory assumptions about the value of the work; and

(2) commends the Government for amending the Fair Work Act 2009 and related legislation to improve job security and gender equity by:

(a) including in the Fair Work Act 2009: gender equity, secure work, an equal remuneration principle, and enhancing the enforcement and compliance framework;

(b) prohibiting pay secrecy clauses; and

(c) establishing new expert panels in the Fair Work Commission for pay equity and the care and community sector.

I'm pleased to move this motion today that notes the unacceptable gender pay gap that exists today and persists in Australia and commends the government on the work that they are doing to reform our industrial relations system to improve that.

We have known about the gender pay gap in Australia for quite some time, but, unfortunately, real movement on it has been agonisingly slow. Today the gender pay gap in Australia sits at an unacceptable 14.1 per cent. The average Australian man now earns $263.90 more per week than the average Australian woman. The Global Gender Gap Index ranks us 43 out of 156 countries, which is really very depressing for a country like Australia. We must be doing much better than that, and I'm proud that our new Albanese Labor government is getting that work underway.

In the previous financial year under the previous government, the gap actually increased by 0.3 per cent. That means that, on power bills, the average woman will pay two per cent of her salary, compared to 1.7 per cent for men. For rent, the average woman will pay 32 per cent of her salary, compared to 27.5 per cent for men. For groceries, the average woman will pay 9.4 per cent of her salary, compared to 8.1 per cent for men.

The gap persists in all industries but especially in highly feminised industries, which comes down largely to outdated and discriminatory assumptions about the value of work that women do, particularly women in our care economy. There should never have been any doubt about the importance of these industries and how important that work is for our society, for our community and for our economy, but it was really confirmed to us through the pandemic just how important these industries really are. I want to specifically reference those who care for our oldest Australians, our youngest Australians and Australians living with disability, as they are predominantly women. This is skilled work; it is physically, emotionally and mentally taxing work, and it should be better recognised. The importance of the work they do is clear, and it is unacceptable that their pay persists at such low levels today. I'm proud that this week we've seen the Fair Work Commission respond to submissions made by the government and the union movement to deliver a 15 per cent increase to the wages of aged-care workers, which is well deserved and well overdue. But the work is not done.

When you compare these industries with male dominated industries where workers are skilled at a similar level, the differences are stark and unacceptable. It's not good enough. Women should not be paid less than men in the year 2022, and we should close this gap. That's why on 29 August we recognised Equal Pay Day, which marked the extra 60 days that Australian women must work to earn the same annual salary as Australian men, and that's why our government is taking strong action through the introduction of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs, Better Pay) Bill 2022, which introduces a number of measures to close the gap.

Some of the big changes being made in this are the inclusion of gender equity, secure work and equal renumeration as goals of the Fair Work Act. The bill also enhances the compliance framework and strengthens the ability of the commission to order pay increases for workers in low-paid, female dominated industries through the establishment of two new expert panels. In this bill the government is also prohibiting pay secrecy clauses in employment contracts. Alison Pennington from the Australia Institute's Centre for Future Work has said that pay secrecy is:

… popular with employers in Australia because it prevents the free sharing of information that employees need to know, to know where they stand in relation to each other and to effectively bargain to get a higher pay increase.

As described by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency:

Pay secrecy means that employees do not have full information about their colleagues' pay; such as formal base salary levels, salary structures, and informal remuneration salary components.

In effect, it allows employers to effectively discriminate against women in the workplace behind their backs. It's wrong and it must end.

In Australia women face barriers to working the hours they want, including access to affordable child care, access to flexible work, equal sharing of care and representation in leadership. In 2022, only 14 women are chief executives in the top 200 companies in Australia. I am proud that our government is up for the task of addressing these gaps in our society and economy and that the work has already begun under our new Albanese Labor government.

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