Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023. The opposition will be supporting this bill for a number of reasons, and we are pleased that the government has chosen to implement the reforms which began under the coalition. Whilst we've come a long way, it is clear that we must do more to promote gender equality in our society, be it in the workplaces around Australia, in our communities or even within this building. A key pillar in promoting gender equality is to ensure that we continue to drive down the gender pay gap. In 2021, the coalition government commissioned a review of the Workplace Gender Equality Act and provided $18.5 million to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency in the Women's Budget Statement 2022-23 to support the implementation of the recommendations from the review. The review, which was released in March 2022, concluded that the gender pay gap in Australia was not closing at a fast enough rate. Whilst there has been a lot of work and effort put into progressing women's economic equality in Australia, progress began to stall in 2021 and 2022, with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency employer census finding the pay gap remained at 22.8 per cent. The review considered whether the agency had the appropriate powers, tools and levers to achieve the objectives of the act and made 10 recommendations. These recommendations were aimed at accelerating the rate of change in women's economic equality in the workplace as well as reducing the reporting burden on businesses.

As I mentioned previously, we have come a long way as a society when it comes to gender equality. I've spent the majority of my working life in male dominated fields, so in some ways I feel I've been at the coalface of this shift. When I first left school, I dreamt of being a pilot. My subsequent career in aviation was an important lesson in perspectives, and the prevailing perspective at that time—which wasn't that long ago in the scheme of things—was that women were not pilots. To get a start as a female pilot in those days, you had travel a long way. Aviation was anything but an equal opportunity employer. In my case, the only job I could get in aviation was in the air traffic control centre in Sydney, where I had occasion to hide in the cupboard to avoid crying in front of my male colleagues.

Then I moved to a place called Thargomindah, in Western Queensland, to actually get my first job as a pilot. I'd advertise my services in the paper as a newly qualified stock mustering pilot. A couple of farmers replied how nice it would be to have a female companion and assured me that a flash plane would be thrown in, which didn't quite suit. But then the next caller said: 'I don't care who you are. My pilot has just walked out, so get up here straight away.'

So, be it in the air traffic control tower, aviation industry or Parliament House, the culture towards women in the workplace has really come a long way, but there is more work to do. This bill includes six amendments to the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 that will require the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to publish gender pay gap information of relevant employers of over 100 people for each reporting period; require relevant employers to provide executive summary and industry benchmark reports to all members of their governing body; rename the current minimum standards as 'gender equality standards'; include sexual harassment, harassment on the grounds of sex or discrimination as gender equality indicators; change the title of the director of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to chief executive officer; and make a technical amendment to the definition of 'reporting period'.

As referenced, this bill introduces new provisions to allow the agency to publish gender pay gap information by organisation as opposed to by industry, which had previously been the case. Publication of pay gaps at an organisational level will promote accountability as well as encourage accelerated action and change within organisations to see the gender pay gap close. The coalition is particularly supportive of the way these recommendations have been implemented to ensure there is no further regulatory burden on businesses. Currently, organisations with over 100 employees must provide remuneration data to the agency. As such, there is no change required by employers in terms of reporting processes or change to the type of data that's already being provided. These reforms are just one of the important actions we undertook when we were in government to boost women's position in the workplace.

As I have previously said, the coalition has a very proud record on reducing the gender pay gap as well as boosting workforce participation for women to record highs. After we came to government in 2013, we created around 1.9 million jobs, and around 60 per cent of these went to women. Female workforce participation was around record highs, at 62.2 per cent when we left government, compared to 58.7 per cent when we came to office in 2013. We delivered landmark funding of $5.5 billion for women through our two women's budget statements, including the $18.5 million we provided to the agency to ensure that the reforms in the bill could be met.

More broadly, the coalition delivered $3.4 billion in the 2021-22 women's budget statement and $2.1 billion in the women's budget statement which included $1.3 billion to drive change for women's safety and additional funding to increase women's workforce participation, support women in leadership and improve health outcomes for women and girls in Australia. These budgets build on the coalition's government's 2018 and 2020 women's economic security statements.

I would like to thank the director of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Mary Wooldridge, for her work in ensuring these reforms came to fruition. I would also like to thank all of the organisations and peak bodies who have engaged in the reform process right from the beginning when the coalition undertook the review of the act. And as I say to any women who may hear these remarks or any others made by me: back yourself. We need your voice and your perspectives in all of our workplaces around the country. If you have something to say or if you have a contribution to make, step up and make it. I thank the House.

Debate adjourned.

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