Sally Sitou (Reid, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I look forward to working with my colleagues across the aisle to make sure that gender equality remains at the heart of everything we do here. I'm pleased to say that the recent gender gap report from the World Economic Forum shows Australia's world gender equality ranking has risen from 43 to 26—a jump of 17 places. It is the largest increase since the index began in 2006. That is the difference a change of government can make. We have placed gender equality at the heart of what we do. It's not something that is just nice to have or something you can isolate to one department off to the side; it spans our entire government and we have set ourselves an ambitious goal—to make Australia one of the most gender-equal countries in the world. We've matched that goal with some key policies to help us get there, and we are starting to see the impact of that. The gender pay gap is closing and trending in the right direction. In the last six months, it's dropped from 14.1 per cent to 13.3 per cent, the smallest it's ever been.

Let me outline some of the critical policy changes we've made. We have put gender equity as an object of our industrial relations framework. It ensures the Fair Work Commission factors in gender equity when considering the minimum wage and changing awards. We have also made changes to reduce barriers to bargaining, including multi-enterprise bargaining, a change that will have a significant impact for women, who are more likely to work in industries like aged care and early childhood education—sectors that tend to pay lower and where workers often lack the resources to bargain effectively. We've ended pay secrecy, a practice that hides the true extent of gender pay discrimination in a workplace because it makes it harder for women to ask for pay increases. We have expanded paid parental leave and made it easier for both parents to access the leave. A hallmark announcement during the federal election was our commitment to make child care more affordable. It's good for parents, usually mums who are getting back into work, because it reduces the motherhood penalty many women face when having children. We've made significant inroads on gender inequality while we've had the country's first majority-female federal government. I don't think that is a coincidence. This is the most diverse government our country has ever had, which means it better reflects the community. It also means our policies are better at supporting our community.

The goal to make Australia one of the most gender equal countries in the world may seem like a lofty goal, but it's an important one not just for Australia but for our region. I recently visited Solomon Islands to see the development work being supported by NGOs and the Australian government. The gender inequality in the Solomon Islands is stark. Women earn little more than half of what men do. Two out of three women have reported experiencing physical violence from an intimate partner. These are deeply disturbing figures. I saw firsthand the conditions in which women were having to give birth, at birthing units which did not have electricity or lighting and were so basic that when I heard the maternal mortality rate was 114 out of every 100,000 live births, ranking Solomon Islands as 113th in the world, I was not surprised.

It's an important reminder of why Australia needs to be a beacon of gender equity in our region. An NGO specialising in women's reproductive health, MSI Reproductive Choices, reported that the overturning of Roe v Wade in the United States gave permission to authoritarian governments around the world to further restrict reproductive rights for women in their countries. Their argument is, 'If they can do it in the United States then we can do it here too.' We have seen a dangerous and dramatic backsliding of women's gender equality, and it's a reminder to us all that the rights that our mothers and grandmothers fought so hard for can be easily taken away if we do not actively and persistently fight for them. It has never been more important for Australia to stand as a beacon of hope for gender equality in our region.

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