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

I have the great honour to lead the first government in Australian history where the majority of members are women—54 female members out of a caucus of 103. Through our first 10 months in office, our government has worked to make equality for women a national priority, working to implement all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report, including the creation of a positive duty for employers to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace. One of our first acts was to make 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave part of the National Employment Standards—that came into effect on 1 February this year—because no woman should have to choose between her job and her safety.

We are making gender pay equity an objective of the Fair Work Act. We've legislated a statutory equal remuneration principle to make it easier for the Fair Work Commission to deliver pay rises for low-paid women workers, and on 1 July aged-care workers, predominantly a female workforce, will receive a substantial increase in their pay. These are people who got us through the pandemic and they deserve more than just our thanks; they certainly deserve that pay rise. We are creating expert panels within the Fair Work Commission for female dominated industries, like the community and care sector, those heroes of the pandemic.

We've committed to expanding paid parental leave to a full six months and making it more flexible, an important reform as well. And from 1 July we're delivering cheaper child care for 1.2 million Australian families. These initiatives are important acts of social progress, but they're also significant economic reforms, because the full, equal and respectful participation of women in our economy is our nation's greatest untapped resource. Advancing economic equality for women is the fair thing to do and the right thing to do, but it's also the smart thing to do. This legislation, boosting transparency and accountability to help close the gender pay gap, is driven by this same understanding.

Men and women should enjoy an equal right to a good job, a fair wage and a and respectful workplace, yet at present Australian women are overrepresented in low-paid industries and underrepresented in leadership roles. In November last year the gender pay gap stood at 13.3 per cent. Women earn less and then they retire with less as well. By and large, that gap has been a constant for three decades. This legislation, which the Minister for Women introduced to the senate on International Women's Day, is just part of our plan to change that.

This bill will enable the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to report on the gender pay gap by employer, not just by industry, so from early next year, rather than talking about an overall or national figure, Australians will be able to see how individual companies are progressing. This will encourage best practice. It will mean a new level of accountability and transparency. It will put a spotlight on the pay gap between men and women and the gap between a company's words and its actions. It will empower employees and employers to have informed, evidence-based conversations about economic equality for women in their workplace. It will also give Australia the opportunity to recognise and celebrate companies that are leading the way—and so many of them are doing the right thing in action on pay, leadership and representation. I want to see employers competing and innovating to be the best in the nation on gender equality. It's good business practice for businesses to be out there saying, 'This is what we are doing to advance equality between men and women in our workplace,' because that will be more attractive to the customers and clients of those businesses as well.

All of this includes the Australian Public Service because we understand our obligation as well.

Importantly, employers won't be required to collect any new data to facilitate this public reporting. There's no red tape involved here, no additional expenditure—just drawing from information that they already provide to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. At the same time, as a result of consulting closely with business and employers, we are working to streamline other reporting requirements in this area, meaning employers can focus on making progress, not completing paperwork.

Above all, this legislation recognises the truth that the Labor movement and the Labor party have always known: fairness isn't inevitable. It doesn't just happen; people make it happen. People make it happen through conscious decisions, and my government is acting consciously to achieve greater equality and greater fairness throughout Australian society. If we just sit back and wait, wish and hope that the gender pay gap will close on its own, it will be another three decades before our nation achieves the equality that Australian women are due.

One of the issues that we are also dealing with is the non-disclosure agreement principles whereby people should be entitled to have privacy about their pay if they choose to do so if the circumstances are appropriate. But the idea that someone is prevented from telling publicly what they are paid or telling other workers in their workplace—it's just extraordinary that that is still in place in 2023. That is just another part of the change.

This legislation is about delivering that meaningful change and measurable progress. Today is of course not the end of the road. There is much further for us to travel and much more for us to do. But this bill is a chance for us to aim higher and to hold ourselves to that higher standard. It speaks to our government's commitment to building a better and more equal future for Australian women, and it's an economic reform that will benefit the entire nation. I'm proud to commend this closing the gender pay gap bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.