Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I stand and look around this place and I am proud of what I see. I am proud that I am part of history. I am proud that I am part of a majority female government. We are making lives better for women across Australia. The Albanese Labor government includes women. It listens to women. It represents women. And, most importantly, it respects women. This is why we are working to improve what women are paid, to correct a longstanding societal wrong, a situation that has seen women paid far less than men for decades, even for doing the same job.

We are taking action to bring women's pay in line with their male colleagues through the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023. We have released Australia's first Status of Women Report Card, which reveals where progress on gender equality has sadly been lacking and which also highlights where we need more focus to spark improvements. The report card highlights the many challenges Australian women face. These challenges start young and have remained a burden throughout life. The report card reveals that through their youth and young adulthood, and continuing into their working lives, there are hurdles along the way.

There are some fascinating statistics, although some of these may not be all that surprising to women. One in two women have been sexually harassed. That's compared to one in four men. Women do more unpaid housework than men, and that is even when they are the primary breadwinners. Women 55 and older are the fastest-growing group of people experiencing homelessness. Another statistic that is worth highlighting is that 30 per cent of Australian men do not believe that gender inequality exists. That is more than the world average of 21 per cent, and that belief is despite all the facts and all the research to support the cold, hard reality of the gender pay gap.

We know gender inequality absolutely does exist, and that is why we are taking action to fix it, because workplace gender equality is good for Australia's economy. Supporting women is good for Australia's economy, and it's good for Australian families. The gender pay gap alone represents a cost of $51.8 billion a year. We know that current projections tell us that it will take roughly 26 years to close the gender pay gap. That is a very long time. But I am proud that we are taking this head-on for our daughters, for their daughters and for the generations of women who will continue to drive our nation's economy in all industries, including in the STEM sectors.

Recently the United Nations announced that, at the current rate of progress, it will take almost 300 years to achieve gender equality worldwide. In order to make progress, we will legislate to publish the pay gaps of employers with 100 or more employees, which will, for want of a better expression, air the dirty gender pay gap laundry. Our government has also made gender equality an object of the Fair Work Act. We prohibited the use of pay secrecy clauses, which have been a stealth weapon to stop women finding out that they are being paid less than their male colleagues. Publishing pay gaps of employers is about transparency, and this transparency should and must prompt change.

Research supports that publishing pay gaps does help spark change. Across the globe, in the United Kingdom, they have reported employer-level gender pay gaps for the past six years, since 2017. Evidence from the United Kingdom shows that publishing those pay gaps led to companies prioritising gender equality. It also led to a reduction in the gender pay gap. This is all about fairness and the need for fairness.

Under these new measures, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency will publish the first set of private sector employer gender pay gaps early next year, which is 2024. Using data from the reporting period which ends on 31 March—the day after tomorrow, this Friday—employers won't be required to collect any new data for public reporting. Statistics will draw on data already provided to the agency by employers. They can, though, provide a statement to explain context related to their gender pay gap and any actions they are taking to fix it. This will all be published on the WGEA's website, along with gender pay gap information.

The measures in this bill will have an additional benefit of strengthening WGEA's ability to support employers in their efforts to progress gender equality in their organisations. Publishing pay gaps is also about showcasing those employers who are doing well for women and who are paying women equally. This measure will bring women a step closer to being paid what they deserve. The cold hard facts are that women earn 87c for every dollar that men earn and that we earn $263 less a week than men.

Gender pay equality is an important issue for the women in my electorate of Pearce. The current pay gap for women across Australia is 14.1 per cent. I stand here and say that we will not accept sitting back and doing nothing to right the historical wrongs of gender inequality, including gender pay inequality. Inequality is clearly evident in all industries and changing the record, changing for a better future for women and our economy, is something that the Albanese Labor government is making an absolute priority. This bill is a first step. This bill puts at the feet of employers that need for greater accountability in gender equality in their workforces. We want to look at how the Workforce Gender Equality Agency can help us, firstly, to understand and then to close the gender pay gap. The government is committed to these changes, which include the addition of a new gender equality standard. This will require employers with more than 500 employees to commit to and reach specific targets. Those employers will also be required to report their progress against these necessary targets directly to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

We are committed to this bill, and also committed to making sure that the changes are achieved through close consultation with businesses and stakeholders. Consultation, without doubt, is critical. This bill has been designed in close consultation with industry, business, the education sector, the not-for-profit sector, employee organisations, the women's sector, state and territory governments, and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. We have also committed to reviewing these legislative amendments, and this is planned for five years after the amendments are passed. This will be an opportunity to probe robustly the effectiveness of these issues in achieving their objective to progress gender equality.

The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 seeks to address the fact that gender equality is, without doubt, a human right. This bill, in conjunction with our National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality, as well as the Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation, the Respect@Work legislation, improvements for families and gender equality legislation passed by this government will help Australia on the path to being among the best countries in the world for equality. As well as those things, our Paid Parental Leave scheme, which has passed the Senate, gives more families access to payments and gives parents increased flexibility in how they take leave. It encourages parents to share care, which promotes gender equality. These changes support women's workforce participation and help more dads and partners to take time off work to be with their children: true equality.

All these measures are being taken because the Albanese government values and respects women, and is working to ensure that they can contribute to keep the economy strong whilst receiving fair pay.

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